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Filing the motor insurance claim offline had been the norm for years before online channels existed.
The online filing comes to your rescue as it is faster, more convenient and most importantly, transparent.
A regular rainy morning in Bengaluru didn’t go as expected for 32-year-old Rahul driving his new car to the office. The wet road led him to lose control of his vehicle and crash into a pole. While he emerged unhurt, the same couldn’t be said for his car – the bumper was damaged and the headlamps were shattered. The silver lining? He remembered he had motor insurance.
However, as the initial shock wore off, uncertainty crept in. He had no experience of filing a claim before this. How would he file the insurance claim? Did it involve visiting the insurer’s office, navigating through tedious paperwork, or waiting endlessly for approvals? Could the entire process be done online or over the phone? Rahul realised he didn’t fully understand the steps to file a motor insurance claim, leaving him wondering what lay ahead.
Now he is not alone. His dilemma is shared by many people. We are often aware that we are protected by insurance, but we try to find out about the exact process of filing a claim only when we encounter an accident. Does one do it online or offline? How does the process differ? Let’s find out.
End-to-end convenience with online process
Most people are aware that the entire process of buying insurance has become online. While one can still go the traditional route and contact an agent, it is wiser to compare insurance plans online and then purchase the one that is right for them with just a few clicks. The entire insurance experience has become digital and this has disrupted the traditional processes in the motor insurance industry. This applies to claims too.
So yes, one can file a claim offline. And one can file a claim online as well. The difference is the time it takes to file and process the claim, the level of convenience and the entire experience. Let us first understand how one can file a claim offline.
Offline Claim Filing: Filing the motor insurance claim offline had been the norm for years before online channels existed. It is often a tedious and time-consuming process. First and foremost, soon after you are involved in an accident, you need to intimate the insurance company. This involves calling them and then visiting their physical office to submit a duly filled claim form. You would also need to take photocopies of all relevant documents and submit them to the insurer.
You will also be required to bring your car to a workshop and get an estimate of the extent of damages. The insurance company will also assign a surveyor who will physically inspect your vehicle and prepare a report. This report will be assessed by your insurer, based on which, your car will be sent for repair. After the car is repaired, you will have to submit the payment receipt and invoice for the claim to be reimbursed. There is also an option of getting your car repaired at a network garage, which will make the claim process cashless. This means the repair costs will be directly paid to the garage by the insurer.
Now as you can now understand, this entire process can take days, at best, or even weeks.
Online Claim Filing: Just like other aspects of insurance, claim filing can also be done online. Semi-online modes have existed for a long time where policyholders could inform the insurer via email and download the forms from their website. But the rest of the process remained offline. Lately, though, digital technologies have revolutionized the claims process as well.
Yes, you still have to intimate the insurer and you still need to get your vehicle inspected. However, the entire process can now be done through your mobile phone in a few minutes. Most insurance companies and online aggregators have apps for claim filing wherein you can intimate the company and fill the claims form (which also comes substantially pre-filled) in one go. Moreover, many companies now do not require physical verification and you can simply click photos of the damaged vehicle through the app, or go for a video inspection. The extent of damage is instantly reviewed and the claim process starts almost there and then. It takes a few hours for the decision to be made & ensuring everything goes smoothly.
Companies are even offering end-to-end claim-focused assistance now. A dedicated claims manager, and on-ground support team to help you with vehicle pick-up, repair and delivery. Also, some offer their own set of garage networks that make the process even smoother and faster. Essentially, in just a few minutes, you can file the claim and live in peace as your vehicle gets repaired and delivered to you.
The cherry on the cake is that online claims also offer unparalleled transparency. Policyholders can track their claim status in the app in real-time. This is in contrast to offline claims where policyholders often remain in the dark, and have to make follow-up calls or visits to check the progress. Today, even if one is not tech-savvy, one can still file online claims because the process is pretty straightforward. The online filing comes to your rescue as it is faster, more convenient and most importantly, transparent.
-The author is Head of Motor Insurance at Policybazaar. Views expressed are personal.
