What is a Claim in Insurance? The whole entire point of having insurance in the first place is to simply protect yourself in the future from spending the necessary amount of money. The meaning of having insurance is so that you can file a claim to replace damages that are caused by an incident when you have insurance. So if you have insurance, you need to know what a claim is.
It is very important that you have insurance to make your life easier and so that you do not have to spend on necessary expenses when an accident or call comes to you. This is why insurance companies are so popular today; they are multi-million dollar enterprises.
What is a Claim in Insurance?
Almost everyone has an insurance policy in place that allows them to live their lives with confidence. That being said, we are going to be telling you everything you need to know about an insurance claim today.
Insurance Claim
It is very important, as I have mentioned above, that you live your life with insurance in place. This is because it will prevent you from spending money on things that an insurance company would otherwise cover. which makes it very important to have an insurance policy in place. Although it is not mandatory, it is in some locations.
In the state of Pennsylvania, you cannot drive a vehicle without any form of insurance in place. making it important to have insurance. Once an incident or call is covered by your insurance, then you need to find a claim. The claim is simply to let the company know that an incident has occurred that is covered by your insurance policy and that the company needs to pay you money to fix it instead of you spending your own money.
What is a claim in insurance?
We have to take a look at what the broader scope of a claim is. However, let’s focus the microscope on what an insurance claim really is. Simply put, it is a formal request by a policyholder or anybody that has insurance in place. It is a request to the insurance company for compensation for a covered loss that happened to the customer who has an insurance policy.
An insurance policy insures yourself and your property. It depends on your policy that when a loss occurs, the company will pay the customer money to fix it. This means that anybody having an insurance policy will receive money from the company to cover the loss if the insurance policy is in place. Now the only way to ask the company to pay you to cover the loss is by filing a claim.
Insurance Claim Definition
It can simply be defined as a formal request by a policyholder of an insurance policy for the insurance company to pay them for a covered loss. For this to work, the policyholder, who is the customer, needs to request the company to pay for only the loss covered by the insurance policy he or she holds. It is normal when an incident occurs that customers would want everything paid for, but it doesn’t work that way.
It is the right of the insurance policy holder to file a claim when any occasion that is covered by their insurance policy has occurred. To avoid spending more money on repairs, the customer must file a claim with their insurer. This is the definition of an insurance claim, knowing it does not mean when you file one it will be approved. Let’s take a look at how claims work.
How does an Insurance Claim work?
The process is not difficult to understand. It has a very easy process in how they actually work. The first step is for the policyholder to file a claim when an incident has happened and there is damage to insured properties. Following that, The claim has been filed and the company has now been alerted to what happened.
Now the insurance company assigns an insurance adjuster to the person’s claim. The work of the adjuster is to properly investigate the incidents to see if they are true and if a claim should be filed. Then, after establishing the fact that it is an incident and is covered by the insurance, the person properly adjusts the claim to only properties covered by the customer’s insurance. The final step is for the company to pay out the claim settlement.
Types of Insurance Claims
There are several types of insurance claims when you are the one filing them. All the types are listed below:
- Car insurance claims
- Health insurance claims
- Home owner’s insurance claims
- Natural disaster claims and
- Life insurance claims
But when a claim is being filed against you, then there are 3 types, which are listed below:
- No-fault claims
- Partial-fault claims
- At-fault claims
All the types of claims listed above are all self-explanatory, so you really don’t need to be told must understand. However, you can check my other post on what to do when an insurance claim is filed against you.
How to file an Insurance Claim
Filing an insurance claim is easy. All you have to do is follow the below steps:
- Firstly, report the claim to your insurance company.
- Then properly document the incident by keeping records, taking photos and others.
- You can now fix the damage yourself if you like. Your adjuster will determine what happened and adjust your claim to only what is covered.
- Finally, if you are satisfied with the work of the adjuster, your settlement would be paid to you.
That is the entire process that is involved in filing a claim. However, you should just check if the incident that occurred is a minor one and not a major one to save yourself time and stress.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the meaning of “claim” in insurance?
It is simply a formal request to your insurance provider to reimburse you for losses you suffered in an incident that is covered by your insurance.
What is considered a claim?
A claim is when you demand that your insurance company reimburse you for damages incurred as a result of an incident that is covered by your insurance policy.
What is an example of an insurance claim?
An example of a claim is when a man tripped over in his office and then fell and broke his arm and is requiring the insurance company to provide the money for his treatment.
What happens when you make a claim?
When you make a claim, your insurance company will send an adjuster to properly adjust the claim to suit your policy. Once you agree with the claim that has been adjusted by your adjuster, the settlement payment is made to you to fix or replace the damage.
What is the claim procedure?
The claim procedure is simple. After the claimant submits the claim, it is investigated by the company, adjusted and paid out.
