How Do Digital Car Insurance Claims Work?
Written by The Clearcover Team | 4 minute read
How Do Car Insurance Claims Work?
It can happen to even the best of drivers: an accident that causes damage. If you’re in an auto accident and need to file a claim, here’s how you can file one digitally (which is often faster and simpler!).
While each car insurance company’s digital car insurance claims process might look a little different, the basics are the same. In this article, we’ll walk you through how car insurance claims work and how to file an online car insurance claim, including:
What to do after you have a car accident
How to contact your insurance company and what to provide
How online car insurance claims are handled by insurance companies
How long it takes for a car insurance claim take to get paid
Ready? Let’s walk through the digital car insurance claim process.
How to file an online car insurance claim
Below are the basic steps to filing a digital car insurance claim. While filing a claim can be a hassle—especially after the stress of a car accident—it doesn’t have to be. Follow these steps to make sure you’re able to provide all the information needed for your claim.
Here’s what to do immediately after the accident:
Seek immediate medical attention, if needed. First, take care of yourself. If you’re able to drive home but notice physical problems later in the day, seek follow-up medical attention or exams. You’ll provide this exam information to your insurer for your claim.
Exchange insurance information. If another party was involved in the incident, you’ll need their full name, the name of their insurer, their policy number, as well as their physical address and phone number. If you’re able, take a photo of the other driver’s license and insurance card to have on hand for your insurance company.
Take photos of the scene or damage to vehicles. Snap pictures of different angles to help document what happened. Most likely, you will be asked to submit these photos when filing the claim digitally.
After you’ve completed the above, here’s what to do next:
Contact your insurance company. When you’re filing an online car insurance claim, you’ll do this in your insurance company’s online portal or via their app to officially initiate the claims process. With Clearcover, drivers can easily and quickly file a claim via our award-winning mobile app.
Give your account of the incident to the auto claim adjuster. The police report information, any photos of the accident, and your medical treatment information (if applicable) should also be provided. (The Clearcover app makes this step simple—you can do it all in a few taps.)
Your insurance company will investigate the accident. They’ll look into the information you provided to determine fault and help decide your claim.
Provide any follow-up information to your insurer. Your insurance company may need some additional information. If you’ve filed a car insurance claim online, you may be asked to provide more information digitally through a portal or over the phone.
Can I show proof of car insurance on my phone at an incident?
Yes, most states will accept electronic proof of car insurance from your electronic mobile device.
With Clearcover, our award-winning mobile app stores your auto insurance card for you. It’s always updated and available in your pocket, no matter which car you’re driving.
Online car insurance claims: How do car insurance companies handle claims digitally?
If you’re filing a car insurance claim online or in your insurance company’s mobile app, the process will be slightly different than a traditional claim completed over the phone—but many drivers agree that the change is a good thing.
For example, in our survey of 600 U.S. drivers who have submitted auto insurance claims, 55% of survey respondents agreed that submitting their claim digitally (instead of with a person on the phone) would’ve reduced the stress of being in an accident.
Filing a digital car insurance claim can reduce the need to retell the story of the accident over and over on the phone. And it can help you avoid the stress of missing insurance-related phone calls (and making time to return those calls during business hours).
When filing digital car insurance claims, initiating a claim is faster and so is communication with your insurer. And with Clearcover’s Clear Claims process (more on that later), it’s hassle-free to file a claim and it only takes a few minutes.
73% percent of drivers we surveyed would’ve preferred checking their claim status via an app or online portal. And when you file digitally, it’s easier to check on the processing of your claim.
Once you start your claim via your insurance company’s website or app, you’ll provide some initial information, as discussed above. Your insurer will then use a Claim Representative to gather and review evidence, determine fault, come to a resolution, and complete the claim, including issuing any payment.
What insurance Claim Representatives do?
An insurance claim representative is insurance industry lingo for the person who investigates and examines your insurance claim. They’ll process your car insurance claim, review all the necessary evidence in order to determine fault, and then determine what (if anything) your insurance company will pay after the accident.
In the past, working with an insurance claim representative usually meant having several phone conversations to provide additional evidence or answer questions—and that can be tricky when you’re working with different time zones or unable to take calls due to your work schedule.
However, filing a claim digitally usually means that you won’t need to spend nearly as much time on the phone. With Clearcover, the process is super simple and easy to understand. Your claim is managed quickly in the app with the help of ClearAI™ technology, which means your phone time with a representative is minimal—if necessary at all—and claims get paid faster.
What it looks like to work with an insurance adjuster digitally
If you file an online car insurance claim, working with your insurance company’s claim adjuster could look like:
Providing evidence through an online portal or app
Sending/receiving messages digitally for follow up with your claim adjuster
File whenever it’s convenient for you (without having to wait on hold or coordinate schedules/phone meetings with another person).
The specifics depend on your insurance company, but, in general, filing a digital car insurance claim can give you faster, clearer, and more reliable information. (In our research survey of insured U.S. drivers who had been in an accident, 76% of those who responded mentioned having more information about claim status would have reduced their stress of being in an accident.)
Online car insurance claims are super simple to file with Clearcover’s Clear Claims™ process
If you’re insured with Clearcover, you’re in luck. Accidents are stressful, but the Clear Claims™ process—powered by ClearAI™—makes filing a digital car insurance claim easier than ever. And it offers the fastest claims resolution in the car insurance industry.
Filing a claim with Clearcover all takes place in the easy-to-use mobile app; with a few simple taps, you can file a car insurance claim anytime, anywhere. After you initiate a claim, Clearcover’s smart technology instantly starts working on your car insurance claim for you.
What is ClearAI™—and here’s how it helps you get paid faster
ClearAI™ is Clearcover’s industry-leading machine learning model that can instantly validate coverage and determine eligibility for expedited claims payments.
For Clearcover customers, that means you can get speedy delivery of claims resolution and payment. Our current record is 13 minutes. (Yes—you read that right. Payment for eligible covered claims can be issued in minutes, not days or weeks.)
With our Clear Claims™ process, the majority of claims are paid in under a week, with the simplest claims eligible for same-day processing.
Learn more about Clearcover’s Clear Claims process.
How long does a car insurance claim take to settle or get paid traditionally?
Finally, if you’re like most drivers, you probably have one question on your mind—how long does it actually take to get a digital insurance claim paid?
It’s not a small question. In our research, we discovered that 50% of the 600 insured U.S. drivers we surveyed experienced financial loss due to a car accident. That’s no fun—and it can place severe short-term stress on your wallet. (We also found in our survey that 59% of our respondents felt that having their claim paid faster would’ve reduced the inconvenience of being in the accident, and 71% said it’d reduce their stress.)
So here’s some good news: Because digital car insurance claims are usually faster to file than traditional claims, claim payments often get to you faster, too. And, while we can’t speak for other insurers, Clearcover’s digital claims service has issued payment in as little as 13 minutes.
All in all, filing your car insurance claim digitally is the best plan for most drivers. It saves time, relieves stress, and—if you’re with Clearcover—it can help your claim payment get to you even faster. That’s a win!
