Over a million road accidents occur every year. Yes, the statistics are truly concerning. To that end, it has been observed that two-wheeler accidents are more common than car accidents. Sometimes, even after driving carefully, accidents do happen, in which along with the traumatic injury, the long list of repair costs of the bike causes a lot of distress and strain to the biker.

If one has a bike insurance policy, which is mandatory as per the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, one does not have to bear the huge repair cost from own pocket. If you have a comprehensive bike insurance policy, your expenses will be covered and paid by your insurer. But, to get your bill paid by the insurance provider, you must know the process of raising a claim.

Steps to take when your Two-Wheeler meets with an accident

When the accident has occurred, these are the steps which will keep you safe, and help to compensate for your losses.

Stay calm and do not panic.

It may be difficult to follow, but at the time of an accident, you must keep your calm. In haste and panic, a person often ends up taking wrong decisions. Any quarrel with the other parties present at the spot of the accident will not help.

Move your Two-Wheeler on the side of the Road

In case of minor damages, you must move your vehicle away from the traffic. If your bike and the other party involved are not harming the traffic, then you must leave the vehicle then and there so that the insurance examiner and the police have an exact assessment of the situation.

Inform Police

If your bike is severely damaged, you must call the police on number 100 and give an accurate statement. Do know that whatever you will say in the statement will be recorded, and accordingly your claims will be handled. The police might take the photos on the spot to include in the report.

Inform your Insurance Provider

Immediately inform your two-wheeler insurance company about the accident. This holds true whether you are going to raise a claim or not. Also, you must know that you should inform your insurer about the accident within 24 hours. Do tell them if the accident has caused third-party damage. The insurance provider, upon checking your nature of policy and coverage, will let you know what needs to be done. If you have a comprehensive insurance, an insurance surveyor will be sent to examine the damage.

Surveyor will come to examine your Bike

After you inform your insurance provider, the insurer will send an assessor to your place to examine the damage and evaluate the cost of damage. Your bike may be taken to the repair garage as approved by your insurer. If you want to take your bike to a garage of your preference, you may not get your claim amount from your insurer.

The surveyor will submit his report to the insurance provider and then the insurance provider will ask you to go ahead with the bike repair.

Take your vehicle to the garage

Your insurance provider would have given you the list of garages that they have a tie-up with. You can take your bike in one of those garages to get it repaired under a cashless claim. The other way is to take the bike to your preferred garage. In this case, you would have to file for the re-imbursement. Please check with your insurance provider to understand how to go about it.

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Fill the claim form

To file the claim, it is important to fill the claim form correctly. You can get the claim form from your insurance provider office or online from the website of your insurance provider. You can make a claim for your bike insurance online as well. It can be a cashless claim or a non-cashless or a reimbursement claim.

You can keep checking the status of your claim regularly by visiting the official website of the company or by making a call on their toll free number.

Submit the documents

The next step is to submit all the necessary documents to the insurance provider. This is important to get the claim amount.

The document list includes:

• Filled Claim form signed by you
• DL or the driving license of the rider/owner
• RC or the registration certificate of your bike
• A copy of your tax receipt, if needed
• The copy of your insurance policy
• A copy of FIR or the First information report from the police station, also called as Police Panchnama
• The receipt of the expenses made
• The original repair invoice in case of a cashless garage
• The payment receipt in case of a normal garage
• Stamp paper if needed
• Claim discharge voucher

Re-imbursement of your bills

If all goes well, the insurance provider will reimburse your bills on your two wheeler insurance claim.  You may get your insurance claim within 30 days. In some cases, the insurer may need extra time for additional investigation. As per the rule, if the insurer does not provide the claim amount within 6 months, then the insurer will have to pay an interest on the amount.

You must also know that your insurance company might not reimburse your bill if you do not submit the same to them immediately after your bike comes out of the service center. This means that you cannot hold the bill with you for a long time, thinking to submit it later.