When you possess an article or good, it is natural to worry about it getting burgled. But if you have your insurance papers in order, your worries should be mitigated.
Car theft is an urban plague that hassles every metropolitan city in the world. Of the approximately 22,000 vehicles reported missing in 2014 (of which 6,019 were cars 2), only 2,322 were ultimately recovered. The grand total of stolen vehicles was 26,330 in 2013. Nationwide more than 36,000 cars were stolen across India in 2013, out of which 3,800 were from Mumbai.
Why fear?
It is to combat such alarming statistics that we have the safety blanket of vehicle insurance, which is made mandatory by law for the very reason that mishaps strike when you are least prepared. When you had purchased your car, you must have definitely also simultaneously purchased a comprehensive car insurance policy.
What a Comprehensive Car Insurance Policy covers
This kind of vehicle insurance is meant to protect the car owner against any loss or damage caused to the vehicle and its passengers by several calamities. The first type of classification of these misfortunes is natural calamities such as fire, lightning and floods, explosion, storms, hurricane, typhoon, very heavy rains shower, frost and hailstorm, cyclone, landslide, rockslide, fire and shock damage due to earthquake.
Other than natural calamities, you are also protected against man-made calamities that would include theft, burglary, housebreaking, strikes, accidents by external means, riots, terrorist activity, miscellaneous malicious acts and damage during travel by rail, waterway, road or air.
Comprehensive car insurance policies also have an inbuilt personal accident cover for the driver as well as the passengers in the vehicle. The policy also provide third party legal liability cover that protects the owner against legal liability arising from an accident causing any permanent injury or death as well as any damage to the property.
All this coverage is, of course, deemed valid when the claim that is made is suitable, convincing and complete. Here is how to make a smart insurance claim in the event of car theft or burglary.
How to Make a Smart Claim if your Car is Stolen or Broken into
The first logical step to take when a vehicle goes missing is to lodge a complaint with the police and to inform the insurance company with as little delay as possible. As per the law, the transport department also needs to be informed soon after.
List of all necessary documents
To make a claim, collect all the required documents and submit them along with the requisite claim form duly filled in, to the insurance company. Each type of claim has its own set of documentation requirements. In case of car theft or burglary, you are required to submit:
- the original FIR copy,
- copy of the policy documents,
- the duly signed the claim form,
- a copy of the driving license,
- copy of the vehicle’s RC, and
- RTO transfer papers duly signed along with the necessary Forms (form 28, 29, 30 and 35).
A no-trace report, also known as the untraced vehicle report in some states, from the police saying that the vehicle cannot be located is a must for claiming insurance. This report, however, takes at least a month from the date of the incident to be generated. With respect to a theft claim, it is also required that you surrender the vehicle keys to the insurance company.
Smart claims lead to smart insurance coverage
By now you must already have it embedded in your mind the sheer necessity of reading the policy documents as soon as you receive them in order to be familiar with the complete procedure for claims. Once you know the steps, filing a claim is not a very difficult practice even during the stressful period following loss of a vehicle.
After submitting your claim form along with the necessary documents, while your part of the procedure is necessarily over, there is still a certain portion remaining to be completed. This is the part where the insurance company will be appointing a surveyor to inspect the vehicle and submit a report, etc. Check with your insurer and they are sure to help you with the details.
Just remember to do your part of the procedure thoroughly and to submit all the relevant documents duly signed and attested in order for the claim to be allowed to go through the process and be approved successfully.
