Your Guide To Claims Processing For Vehicle Insurance In the Philippines

3 min read By eCompareMo on September 15, 2015

Whether it’s an accident, theft, or loss claim involving your insured vehicle, here’s a rundown of the documents you need to have and things you need to do in order to file for a vehicle insurance claim smoothly.

A number of car insurance companies offer a 24-hour free towing service for cars involved in accidents. It is therefore important that you take note of your insurance company’s emergency phone number.

If the hotline is not available at the time of emergency, you may choose to avail the services of a third-party towing company and shoulder the costs yourself. Just make sure you get an Official Receipt of Payment as you will need it for reimbursement with your insurance provider.

For car insurance claims, here are the other documents needed:

1. Police Report/ Notarized Affidavit
2. Photocopy of Driver’s License with Official Receipt
3. Copy of automobile LTO OR CR
4. Photos of the damage/s with the LTO plates of the vehicle

Make sure that you inform your insurance company about the incident immediately. You also need to secure the damaged property, and never sign any agreement regarding liabilities to any third party or other person involved in the incident.

In case of a Third Party Claim on your vehicle insurance, the Third Party must also submit the required documents above.

A Third Party is anyone not in the vehicle that is reported, not related to the insured up to the second degree of consanguinity, or not an employee of the insured.

Here are the documents needed for a Third Party Claim:

1. Certificate of No Claim from their vehicle insurance company to get rid of double claims
2. In the case of bodily injury or death, you need to submit the following:
   1. Identification
   2. Birth Certificate (For Minors)
   3. Doctor’s report (For the Diagnosis)
   4. Police Report
   5. Original copy of medical certificate
   6. Original copy of medical receipts with prescriptions
   7. Hospital bill or Statement of Account
   8. Copy of Income Tax Return (in the case of claims of loss of income)
   9. Certified copy of Death Certificate (in the event of death)
   10. Original copy of funeral bills (in the event of death)
   11. Any other documents that will prove to be important for the third party claim
3. In the case of property damage, you need to submit the following:
   1. Police Report
   2. Photocopy of Driver’s License with Official Receipt (of Third Party)
   3. Photographs of damaged parts of the vehicle, showing the license plate
   4. Estimated cost of damage or repair
   5. Original copy of Certification of No Claim (from third party, if applicable)
4. In the case of Lost or Stolen Vehicle, report the incident to the Anti-Car napping Group of your insurance company the soonest. You need to submit the following documents:
   1. Original copy of the Complaint
   2. Original copy of Nationwide Formal Alarm Sheet from Traffic Management Group (TMG)
   3. Copy of LTO or Certificate of Registration of your Unit
   4. Original copy of Certificate of Non-Recovery
   5. Original copy of Insurance Policy
   6. Ignition keys (if available)

Make sure you keep your own copy of the documents submitted to your car insurance company, with date, and signatures over printed name, as well as the Insurance personnel that received your documents and helped you process your claim. Take note that there is a waiting period of three (3) months. If your vehicle is not recovered after that period, then the insurance company will pay you for the Actual Cash Value (ACV) of your lost or stolen vehicle. This is not necessarily equivalent to the price of the brand new vehicle counterpart, so make sure you negotiate a fair deal with your insurance company. You will then be able to shop around for a replacement of your stolen vehicle.

(See Related Topic: How To Choose The Right Vehicle For Your Business)

Note that not all damages are covered by your insurance company, as you may already be aware upon signing up. Some of the usual instances are:

1. When the driver is at fault for the accident, e.g. Driving Under the Influence (DUI), beating the red light, took a left or U-turn illegally, etc.
2. Force Majeure or Acts of God – accidents or damages due to acts of nature, e.g. typhoon, hurricane, flood, etc.
   However, there are insurance companies that require you to pay additional insurance premium for damages caused by Force Majeure / Acts of God. If you opted to pay for a higher premium, then these may be covered.)
3. Public Disturbances such as Riots, Wars, or Public Disturbances

Now that you already know how to process your vehicle insurance claims, it’s also best to talk to your insurance claim processor for more information and the next steps that need to be done in order to process your claim.