COMMERCIAL VEHICLE CLAIM: WHAT TO DO
The first 72 hours, from Claims Desk by RFS

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 IT
Authorising 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.

1. People first, then the police  [Immediately]
   Get 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.

2. Tell the insurer before the vehicle is moved for repair  [Same day]
   Towing to safety is fine. Delivering it to a workshop and
   starting work is not, until the surveyor has seen it.

3. Photograph the scene and the vehicle  [Before moving]
   The position of the vehicles before they are moved, the road, the
   damage from several angles, the registration plates, and the
   load.

4. Check the driver's papers immediately  [Day 1]
   Licence, 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.

5. Pull the vehicle's papers too  [Day 1]
   Registration, 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.

6. Do not admit fault at the scene or to the other party  [Throughout]
   Exchange details, cooperate with the police, say nothing about
   who caused it. Third-party liability is decided by a tribunal,
   not at the roadside.

7. Do not authorise repairs until the survey is done  [Before repair]
   And keep the replaced parts. A workshop that has already fitted
   new parts and scrapped the old ones leaves nothing to assess.

8. Treat the goods loss as a separate claim  [Day 1]
   Damage 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.

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Claims Desk by RFS - claimsdesk.in - 92514 56334
We run insurance claims end to end, including on policies placed
elsewhere. Nothing here is legal advice, and what your policy pays
is decided by its wording and the facts of the loss. Where this
says 'the time your policy sets', read your own wording: the
periods genuinely differ and a wrong one costs the claim.