Auto Insurance History and Claim easily...

Claim easily,Principles of insurance,claims and loss handling is the materialized utility of insurance,Insurance company claim departments
Finally, claims and loss handling is the materialized utility of insurance; it is the actual "product" paid for, though one hopes it will never need to be used. Claims may be filed by insureds directly with the insurer or through brokers or agents. The insurer may require that the claim be filed on its own proprietary forms, or may accept claims on a standard industry form such as those produced by ACORD

Insurance company claim departments employ a large number of claims adjusters supported by a staff of records management and data entry clerks. Incoming claims are classified based on severity and are assigned to adjusters whose settlement authority varies with their knowledge and experience. The adjuster undertakes a thorough investigation of each claim, usually in close cooperation with the insured, determines its reasonable monetary value, and authorizes payment. Adjusting liability insurance claims is particularly difficult because there is a third party involved (the plaintiff who is suing the insured) who is under no contractual obligation to cooperate with the insurer and in fact may regard the insurer as a deep pocket. The adjuster must obtain legal counsel for the insured (either inside "house" counsel or outside "panel" counsel), monitor litigation that may take years to complete, and appear in person or over the telephone with settlement authority at a mandatory settlement conference when requested by the judge.

In managing the claims handling function, insurers seek to balance the elements of customer satisfaction, administrative handling expenses, and claims overpayment leakages. As part of this balancing act, fraudulent insurance practices are a major business risk that must be managed and overcome. Disputes between insurers and insureds over the validity of claims or claims handling practices occasionally escalate into litigation; see insurance bad faith.

[edit] History of insurance

Main article: History of insurance

In some sense we can say that insurance appears simultaneously with the appearance of human society. We know of two types of economies in human societies: money economies (with markets, money, financial instruments and so on) and non-money or natural economies (without money, markets, financial instruments and so on). The second type is a more ancient form than the first. In such an economy and community, we can see insurance in the form of people helping each other. For example, if a house burns down, the members of the community help build a new one. Should the same thing happen to one's neighbour, the other neighbours must help. Otherwise, neighbours will not receive help in the future. This type of insurance has survived to the present day in some countries where modern money economy with its financial instruments is not widespread (for example countries in the territory of the former Soviet Union).

Turning to insurance in the modern sense (i.e., insurance in a modern money economy, in which insurance is part of the financial sphere), early methods of transferring or distributing risk were practised by Chinese and Babylonian traders as long ago as the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, respectively. Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessel's capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practised by early Mediterranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the lender's guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen.

Achaemenian monarchs of Iran were the first to insure their people and made it official by registering the insuring process in governmental notary offices. The insurance tradition was performed each year in Norouz (beginning of the Iranian New Year); the heads of different ethnic groups as well as others willing to take part, presented gifts to the monarch. The most important gift was presented during a special ceremony. When a gift was worth more than 10,000 Derrik (Achaemenian gold coin) the issue was registered in a special office. This was advantageous to those who presented such special gifts. For others, the presents were fairly assessed by the confidants of the court. Then the assessment was registered in special offices.

The purpose of registering was that whenever the person who presented the gift registered by the court was in trouble, the monarch and the court would help him. Jahez, a historian and writer, writes in one of his books on ancient Iran: "[W]henever the owner of the present is in trouble or wants to construct a building, set up a feast, have his children married, etc. the one in charge of this in the court would check the registration. If the registered amount exceeded 10,000 Derrik, he or she would receive an amount of twice as much."[1]

A thousand years later, the inhabitants of Rhodes invented the concept of the 'general average'. Merchants whose goods were being shipped together would pay a proportionally divided premium which would be used to reimburse any merchant whose goods were jettisoned during storm or sinkage.

The Greeks and Romans introduced the origins of health and life insurance c. 600 AD when they organized guilds called "benevolent societies" which cared for the families and paid funeral expenses of members upon death. Guilds in the Middle Ages served a similar purpose. The Talmud deals with several aspects of insuring goods. Before insurance was established in the late 17th century, "friendly societies" existed in England, in which people donated amounts of money to a general sum that could be used for emergencies.

Separate insurance contracts (i.e., insurance policies not bundled with loans or other kinds of contracts) were invented in Genoa in the 14th century, as were insurance pools backed by pledges of landed estates. These new insurance contracts allowed insurance to be separated from investment, a separation of roles that first proved useful in marine insurance. Insurance became far more sophisticated in post-Renaissance Europe, and specialized varieties developed.

Toward the end of the seventeenth century, London's growing importance as a centre for trade increased demand for marine insurance. In the late 1680s, Edward Lloyd opened a coffee house that became a popular haunt of ship owners, merchants, and ships’ captains, and thereby a reliable source of the latest shipping news. It became the meeting place for parties wishing to insure cargoes and ships, and those willing to underwrite such ventures. Today, Lloyd's of London remains the leading market (note that it is not an insurance company) for marine and other specialist types of insurance, but it works rather differently than the more familiar kinds of insurance.

Insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London, which in 1666 devoured 13,200 houses. In the aftermath of this disaster, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings. In 1680, he established England's first fire insurance company, "The Fire Office," to insure brick and frame homes.

The first insurance company in the United States underwrote fire insurance and was formed in Charles Town (modern-day Charleston), South Carolina, in 1732. Benjamin Franklin helped to popularize and make standard the practice of insurance, particularly against fire in the form of perpetual insurance. In 1752, he founded the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. Franklin's company was the first to make contributions toward fire prevention. Not only did his company warn against certain fire hazards, it refused to insure certain buildings where the risk of fire was too great, such as all wooden houses. In the United States, regulation of the insurance industry is highly Balkanized, with primary responsibility assumed by individual state insurance departments. Whereas insurance markets have become centralized nationally and internationally, state insurance commissioners operate individually, though at times in concert through a national insurance commissioners' organization. In recent years, some have called for a dual state and federal regulatory system (commonly referred to as the Optional Federal Charter (OFC)) for insurance similar to that which oversees state banks and national banks.
Auto insurance

Main article: Vehicle insurance

A wrecked vehicle

Auto insurance protects you against financial loss if you have an accident. It is a contract between you and the insurance company. You agree to pay the premium and the insurance company agrees to pay your losses as defined in your policy. Auto insurance provides property, liability and medical coverage: (1) Property coverage pays for damage to or theft of your car. (2) Liability coverage pays for your legal responsibility to others for bodily injury or property damage. and (3) Medical coverage pays for the cost of treating injuries, rehabilitation and sometimes lost wages and funeral expenses. An auto insurance policy is comprised of six different kinds of coverage. Most states require you to buy some, but not all, of these coverages. If you're financing a car, your lender may also have requirements.

Most auto policies are for six months to a year. Your insurance company should notify you by mail when it’s time to renew the policy and to pay your premium. [8]

Steps to Filing Your Auto Insurance Claim, getting paid !!

Getting Paid on an Auto Insurance Claim Steps to Filing Your Auto Insurance Claim, part Your Auto Insurance Claim,Evaluate Your Auto Insurance Claim, Fill out Your Auto Insurance Claim,getting your car fixed on Your Auto Insurance Claim
1. Evaluate whether or not you should file a claim: Did you know that just when you call your insurance company with a question about possibly filing a claim it is often recorded on your insurance record? It is important to keep your insurance record clean and one way is deciding whether or not you should file a claim. It doesn’t matter if the accident is your fault or not, you should ask yourself first if you can pay for the damage. Simply put, if you can pay for it yourself without financial hardship, don’t file the claim.
2. Fill out your What to do After an Auto Accident Worksheet: This worksheet, which when you click on the title is provided for print-out, will help you keep track of the information you will need to file your auto insurance claim. It is important to get every detail of the accident documented and to try to find witnesses that would be willing to talk to your insurance company to back-up your story.

3. File the claim ASAP: You will want to file the claim as soon as possible with your insurance company. Even if it is not your fault, your insurance company will handle the claim process as your advocate.

4. Prepare for a possible call from the other insurance company: If there is a dispute between the two parties in the accident, you may get a call from the other driver’s insurance company asking for your version of what happened at the accident scene. If this happens make sure you document everything you say and the name of the customer service agent you talked too.

5. Finally, getting your car fixed: If you had body damage to your vehicle this is when you will finally get it fixed. After your claim is approved, you will likely get a call from your insurance company about sending an insurance adjuster out to assess the damage or asking you to send your car to a pre-approved shop to get it fixed.

Sooner or later it happens to nearly all of us. An auto accident. You do all the right things at the accident scene. Then you made a few phone calls to get the insurance company to get the claims process started. Now it's about time for the payoff. Who's going to repair your car and how much will the insurance company pay? Let's see if we can't negotiate a fair deal for ourselves.

In most cases you'll need to get an estimate of what it will cost to repair the damage to your car. Remember that your goal is to get your car repaired properly so you won't have problems later. The insurance company's goal is to pay you as little as possible. They may suggest that you to use their 'convenient drive-in claims adjuster'. Or perhaps they'll use a quote from a local repair shop that gets lots of business from them.

Don't go for it. In either case the person providing the estimate is loyal to the insurance company. They have no reason to try to satisfy you. Find a shop that has your confidence. The dealer that sells that make of car is probably the best if they have a repair shop. You may want to get estimates from a couple of different shops. That's your choice. Check your policy. It rarely requires you to go to their shop or to get more than one estimate.

What happens if your car isn't driveable? Then have it towed to the shop of your choice. It's cheapest to do that right at the time of the accident. It's good to have the shop's name and address already available in your car. By having the car to the shop of your choice you've forced the adjuster to play on your home field. He has to respond to their estimate. On the other hand, if the car's in your driveway he can offer to have it towed to his favorite low cost shop. Then he'll have all the advantage in negotiating the price of the repairs.

OK, you've agreed on a shop and the work is completed. So it's just a matter of picking up the car. Right? Wrong! This is your last real chance to get the job done to your satisfaction. The insurance company will have named you on the check. You will be required to sign the check or a repair order stating that the work is completed. You may also need to write your own check to the repair shop for the deductible.

Don't sign off until you've thoroughly inspected the car. And I do mean thoroughly. Look at the bodywork under bright lights. Sunlight is best. Look at the car from all different angles. Is the sheetmetal straight? How's the paint? Try all the doors, windows and anything else that moves in the repaired area. Make sure that nothing is binding or crooked and that everything is properly aligned. Take it for a test drive. It should run and sound like before the accident. No new rattles. Make sure you understand your guarantee. If something goes wrong later you'll be dealing with the repair shop, not the insurance company.

If you've been forced to use a shop chosen by the insurance company, be especially careful to inspect the car. In fact, you probably would be wise to 'drop in' once or twice during the repair to actually see what's happening. Ask to see all the old parts that they were going to replace. They could save some money by repairing a molding or other part instead of buying a replacement part. All shops are not dishonest, but some are.

Suppose that your agent calls and says that you car is a total loss. They want to cut you a check for the value of the car and you just give them the car and title. There are two potential problems. First, your car was worth more to you than anyone else. That's why you were still driving it. Second, how do you determine what the car's worth?

The adjuster will probably use the Kelly Blue Book. They might also include classified ads for similar cars to come up with an offer for your car. Expect them to offer you the 'wholesale' value. That's what the dealer would pay for the car before they add their profit margin to sell it to you. Naturally, you'll end up paying retail. Shouldn't your payoff be at retail?

How can you get a higher price? By shopping! Go to a number of dealers. Read the classified ads for comparable cars. Make a list and give it to the adjuster. If that fails, ask him to find a replacement car for the amount he's offering. He's the one that says it's out there. Let him prove it.

Now's the time that homework pays off. Was your car a low mileage vehicle? That's worth something. Did you keep maintenance records to show that the car was in above average condition? Do you have any pictures or other evidence that your car was a 'cream puff'?

Oh, and don't forget to add in the cost of tax and title. In some places it can be 6 or 8% of the price of the car. In almost all cases that will be hundreds of dollars.

Hopefully, you won't ever need to settle an auto accident claim. But, if you're ever in an accident, knowing how to deal with the insurance company is essential. They expect you to pay your premiums faithfully. It's up to you to make sure that they pay properly on your claim. Nothing that the average driver armed with a little knowledge can't do. And if it ever comes up, so can you!