The driver's licence decides more of these claims than the accident does.
Commercial motor claims are refused on paperwork far more often than on the facts of the collision: the licence, the permit, the fitness, the load.
What loses itAuthorising repairs before the survey, and discovering afterwards that the driver's licence was not valid for that class of vehicle. The second one is the commonest repudiation ground in the whole class.
- People first, then the policeGet the injured to hospital. Then report to the police -- an FIR is expected in any accident involving injury, death or third-party damage, and its absence is noticed.Immediately
- Tell the insurer before the vehicle is moved for repairTowing to safety is fine. Delivering it to a workshop and starting work is not, until the surveyor has seen it.Same day
- Photograph the scene and the vehicleThe position of the vehicles before they are moved, the road, the damage from several angles, the registration plates, and the load.Before moving
- Check the driver's papers immediatelyLicence, and specifically whether it is valid for that class of vehicle and endorsed for a transport vehicle where required. Do this before you make any statement, because it is the first thing the insurer will examine.Day 1
- Pull the vehicle's papers tooRegistration, fitness certificate, permit for the route and the load, pollution certificate, and the goods documents. An expired fitness or a route outside the permit is a live defence for the insurer.Day 1
- Do not admit fault at the scene or to the other partyExchange details, cooperate with the police, say nothing about who caused it. Third-party liability is decided by a tribunal, not at the roadside.Throughout
- Do not authorise repairs until the survey is doneAnd keep the replaced parts. A workshop that has already fitted new parts and scrapped the old ones leaves nothing to assess.Before repair
- Treat the goods loss as a separate claimDamage to the cargo is a marine or transit claim, not a motor one, and it has its own intimation and its own carrier notice. Two claims, two files, two clocks.Day 1
The quiet oneUnderinsurance. If the sum insured is below the value actually at risk, the average clause reduces the claim in proportion however well the rest of it is run. Check where you stand. It takes three numbers and nothing is stored.
Fire Claim
A fire, explosion, lightning strike or impact loss at a business premises.
Marine Cargo Claim
Goods damaged, short-landed or lost in transit by road, rail, sea or air.
Vehicle already in a workshop and no survey done?
Whoever placed your policy, and whatever stage the claim has reached.
Three deadlines
- Tell the insurer now, not after the assessment.
- Notice to anybody else responsible the carrier, the contractor, the police, within the time your policy sets.
- Every document within the time the insurer asks for it.