Even after careful driving, there are possibilities of car meeting with accidents which may happen at any instance. In such events, most car owners are not worried as they know that their car insurance would cover most of their expenses incurred from the accident. You also find that you and your car insurance company don’t see eye to eye in regard to the benefits you are entitled to. Many times you may face disagreement with the insurance agency regarding all your claims. These disagreements usually arise from the situations surrounding the approval of your claims. For example, the amount due on your bills and even due to complete non-payment of the claims.
Solving all such claims and coverage disputes would require you and the insurance company to come to a settlement that not only benefits you but also your insurance company. Rather, before it would happen you are required to understand your rights and the Car Insurance Dispute Resolution Process.
When The Claims are Rejected or Compromised?
There are many circumstances when your claim would get rejected. It is rejected when the insurer believes that the accident is not covered in the insurance policy or when the documents and information provided for the claim are incorrect or incomplete. In some cases, the insurance companies decide to pay only a small percentage of the claim as the policy has set limits for a list of specific accident situations. This usually causes distress because then the buyer would helpless. It is the duty of both the parties to sit together and actually go through the terms and conditions of the policy.
Now, if the car owner is not satisfied with the decision of the insurance company, then they may request a review. Insurance companies usually have an in-house dispute resolution team that handles the matters with their Car Insurance Dispute Resolution Process. They are also active members of 3rd part dispute resolution scheme so as to avoid all the disputes from escalating. Any car owner who is still not satisfied with the decision of the insurance company after reviewing the process, then they may look for legal methods to resolve the car insurance claim disputes. The higher authorities are available to deal with such matters.
What are the Legal Methods and Car Insurance Dispute Resolution Process?
Again, when the car owner is not satisfied and doesn’t agree with the decision of the car insurance company after being reviewed both externally and in-house, then they may use the following legal methods or Car Insurance Dispute Resolution Process to resolve all claim disputes with the insurance company.
Mediation:
 Mediation is basically the pre-legal method where your insurance claim lawyer and the insurance company would sit down to discuss the things in presence of any neutral mediator. This pre-legal process can be held in person, over the phone and also in video conferencing. The process needs to be completed within 60 days from the approval of the application. But in some cases, it may also prolong until both parties agree in writing. It is necessary that you and your lawyer are present in all the mediation conferences and meetings.
Arbitration:
If the mediation process failed to resolve the claim dispute, then the second Car Insurance Dispute Resolution Process is arbitration. In order to be eligible for this legal process, your application needs to come from you and not from the insurance company. The application must be submitted within 2 years of starting the claim dispute or at least 90 days after the mediation process has been filed, whichever is later.
In the process, your representative and you will sit in a meeting with the arbitrator so as to discuss the case and this meeting is referred to as a pre-hearing conference. The arbitrator put all the effort into settling the case in the first hearing and if an agreement is elusive, then the next hearing will be scheduled. The arbitrator would make the final decision which will be binding to both parties involved in the claim dispute.
