What is the procedure for settling Third Party Insurance?
Posted on: 16/Jul/2018 3:29:59 PM
As there are increasing number of road accidents from day to day, it is absolutely necessary that you are aware of the insurance claim processes. However, car owners do not seem to be very aware of the procedures in reality. In fact, they lag in enough knowledge about the basics. As a result, they pay out from their own money for any kind of repair, and they find it too tiring to claim a car insurance. For all such people who are unaware, here is a limelight we throw on the detailed procedures:
There are three main parts involved in third party car insurance
File an FIR - as the first step, inform the police office and get an FIR filed. You also need to obtain charge sheet from the police station.
Case filing at MACT - next is to file a case with MACT which stands for Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. You can seek help from a lawyer for the same. File this case with the nearest court that lies nearby the accident location.
Settle claim - this step makes it very cumbersome! This is where most people find the process complicated. You need to undergo the court procedures for getting the insurance claim.
Here are the likely happenings when you go for a third party insurance claim:
Circumstance 1 - when you protect your car for third party liability
In case if your car is involved in any accident and it is devastated by the third party vehicle, you will not be eligible for claiming the insurance amount for the damages caused to your car, because you lag in extensive coverage. In such cases, insurance claim will be possible under the car insurance policy of the other party. For this, you need to produce the necessary proof for the authenticity of the third party who made the accident. When the court is in favor of you, the tribunal will decide the deserving insurance claim amount. The remaining can be claimed from the insurer.
Subrogation
In this process, the insurance company will pay you with the amount towards damages caused. Later on the insurer would claim reimbursement from the insurance company. For this, you should have opted for a comprehensive car insurance. And the insurer should also agree to the subrogation process.
Circumstance 2 - if you have insured with comprehensive insurance plan
Consider the scenario where your car is insured with a comprehensive plan during accident period. In such cases, you can opt for the below procedure
Here, you can apply for compensation through ‘own damage’ coverage under your insurance policy. This method is very easy and hassle-free and gets you the claim amount quicker and hence a lot of people opt for it. For this, you need to forgo NCB at the time of obtaining claim amount.
To obtain the compensation money, you can seek help from Motor Accident Claims Tribunal and win the case. The procedures are same as mentioned in Circumstance-1. Go on and raise a request from the insurance company with which you have insured your car. Fight the case and stand for yourself. In case the insurer doesn’t agree for the same, you can have only one of the above options.
Circumstance 3 - when either of the vehicles are protected with comprehensive car insurance
One can approach the court for claims in such situations if and only if the damage is ‘only-vehicle’. This is however very tiresome and lengthy process and hence this method is not very suitable. These need to be settled outside the court.
If the case involves disability of death, you can fight in the court, but remember that it is going to be a very long process. Make sure to keep the necessary documents in hand and articulate the entire incident and file the FIR. you also need to have the original records of expenses incurred due to the accident.
Keep in mind that the insurance company would agree to subrogate only in case of disability or death.
Insurance companies usually agree for subrogation only when there is death or disability involved.
What does the law say?
According to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, a claim out of third party insurance can be made under 2 circumstances. First is no-fault liability claim and the other is fault liability claim.
In case of no-fault liability claim, the accident does not include any involvement of any party and happens by chance.
In case of fault liability claim, there may be negligence of any or both of the parties involved in the accident. Here the claimant need to produce documents and proofs to authenticate the third party involved to be cause of fault. As this gets proved, you will get higher compensation as compared to scenario of no-fault claim.
The total amount you shall receive will completely depend on the judgement decided by the court and there are other factors like total earnings of victim, among others.
