The main reason to have auto insurance is to protect you from financial loss. While most policy holders hope that day never comes, if you are in a collision or if a vehicle that you own has been damaged, it is necessary to file a claim with your insurance company to be reimbursed for losses. Here are some general tips for filing a claim. Please note, depending on your insurance company or location that you reside in may change the process for filing.

The first thing you should do once you are in a collision or realize that your vehicle has been damaged and caused a financial loss is to contact your insurance agent and notify them of the incident. Whether it is an extremely small fender bender or a large amount of damage, your insurance agency can help you out, whether it is with legal advice, renting a vehicle or anything else that may fit the incident.

When contacting your auto insurance agent, first find out if you are covered for specific damages, and if so, how then to proceed. Usually, your auto insurance agent will pull up your policy and ask you specific questions about the incident. Usually with most cases, you will find out if you are covered in a matter of moments, for more complex cases, it may take days to first investigate the incident and check your existing policy.

If you auto insurance agent confirms that you are not covered, you usually can appeal in special circumstances. However, in most cases, this can be time consuming and can even require a lawyer in extremely rare cases.

For those that are covered, your auto insurance agent will usually tell you to proceed in order to be reimbursed and covered by the policy. They will usually walk you through slowly on what kind of documents you need, what forms you need to fill out and the exact process you may need to take. For certain cases, such as hospitalization, agents may visit you personally or investigate on their own to help you out with the process.