To claim car accident insurance in India you do three things immediately: inform your own insurer and get a claim number, file a police complaint (an FIR or, if police decline to register one, a General Diary entry), and collect the evidence before anything is disturbed. Damage to your own car is recovered under the own-damage part of your policy. Injury, death and damage caused by the other driver are recovered from that driver and his insurer, either by negotiation or through the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
Most claims are won or lost in the first two days. A surveyor who reaches the vehicle before repairs see the actual damage; a claim reported a week later is examined with suspicion; and a car repaired without the insurer being told is the single most common reason a claim is cut down.
Own-damage and third-party are two different claims
Indian motor policies are built in two parts. The own-damage section insures your vehicle against accident, theft, fire and natural calamity, and it pays you according to the insured declared value after applying depreciation and the compulsory excess. The third-party section is wider: it covers your legal liability for injury or death of others and for their property, up to the limits of the policy, and it is the section that is legally compulsory under the Act.
The two must be kept apart. If your car is damaged in an accident you caused, you claim own-damage. If you were hit by another vehicle, you claim own-damage from your insurer (and your no-claim bonus may suffer) and your insurer then tries to recover that money from the other insurer, a process called subrogation. If you were injured, you are not claiming on your own policy at all; you are claiming compensation from the wrongdoer.
Many drivers lose money because they file only one of these. A person whose car is repaired free of cost under his own policy often forgets that he is separately entitled to compensation for his fracture, his lost wages and the pain he suffered. That second claim is against the other driver, not against your own insurer.
The first 48 hours after the accident
- Move any injured person to hospital first. Treatment records dated close to the accident are the strongest proof of injury.
- Call the police. Ask for the accident to be recorded and note the station diary or FIR number. If the station refuses to register an FIR for an accident, a General Diary entry is still useful evidence.
- Note the other vehicle's registration number, the driver's name and licence details, and the name of the other insurer if it is displayed.
- Photograph both vehicles from several angles, the road, the skid marks and the position of the vehicles before they are moved.
- Collect the names and phone numbers of bystanders and, where possible, a written statement from an independent witness.
- Intimate your insurer on the helpline the same day and keep the claim or token number the call centre gives you.
- Do not begin repairs before the surveyor inspects the car, unless a written authorisation is given.
How the insurer assesses the claim
Once you report the claim, the insurer appoints a licensed surveyor. The surveyor inspects the vehicle, records the damage, checks whether the damage matches the accident described, and sends a report to the insurer. The insurer then sanctions the repair amount to the garage or to you. For a total loss or a theft, the settlement is based on the insured declared value less depreciation, not on the price you paid for the car.
Two things decide the figure. One is the insured declared value at the time of the policy. The other is whether the car was being driven by a person holding a valid and effective licence. If the driver had no licence, or the licence had expired, or he was drunk, the insurer can refuse the own-damage claim outright, because these are the standard exclusions in every private car policy.
Documents the insurer will ask for
| Document | Why it is needed |
|---|---|
| Policy copy and premium receipt | Proves the policy was in force on the date of the accident |
| Registration certificate | Confirms the vehicle and the owner |
| Driving licence of the person driving | The validity of the licence decides the own-damage claim |
| FIR or General Diary copy | Independent confirmation of the date, place and manner of the accident |
| Spot photographs and repair estimate | Support the extent of damage before the surveyor visits |
| Hospital records, bills, disability proof | Required for the injury part of any third-party claim |
Keep originals of everything and send copies. Insurers are entitled to see originals and may hold them briefly; where a document is needed elsewhere, ask for a receipt before handing it over.
When the insurer underpays or rejects
If the settlement is less than you expected, ask for the surveyor's report and the reason in writing. Insurers commonly deduct for depreciation, for a policy excess, for parts they treat as consumable (tyres, batteries, plastic parts) and for pre-existing damage. Some of these deductions are contractual and legitimate; others are worth disputing with the surveyor's report in hand.
If the claim is rejected without a proper reason, you have two forums. First, the grievance-redressal mechanism of the insurer and then the Insurance Ombudsman for the area, which handles motor claims within a monetary limit set for such complaints. Second, a complaint before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, since insurance is a service and a wrongful repudiation is a deficiency in service under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. A well-drafted complaint sets out the policy clause, the surveyor's finding and the exact deficiency; a general letter of grievance rarely succeeds. See the consumer complaint filing guide for how such a plea is structured, and our services if the file is being built for you.
Claiming through the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal
For injury, death or serious loss caused by another driver, the proper route is the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. The Act of 1988 provides for these tribunals and for an application for compensation by the injured person or by the legal heirs of a person who died. In Kolkata the tribunal sits within the city civil court complex, and claims arising in the districts are filed before the tribunal for that district.
A tribunal claim is not a suit in the ordinary sense. It is a summary enquiry where the tribunal decides negligence, the compensation and the liability of the insurer in one proceeding. Officers of the insurer are brought in directly because the policy makes the insurer liable to satisfy the award, which is why most victims recover from the insurer rather than from the driver personally.
There is no longer a fixed limitation period for an application for compensation; the earlier six-month bar in the Act was removed by amendment in the 1990s, and tribunals have accepted claims filed years after the accident, especially where there was treatment, disability or dependency to be established. Delay is still risky and should be explained in the application.
What compensation the tribunal can award
- For death: loss of dependency calculated from the deceased's income, age and the number of dependants, plus funeral expenses and loss of estate, following the heads the Supreme Court has settled.
- For injury: medical expenses actually incurred, loss of earning during treatment, loss of future earning where there is permanent disability, and compensation for pain and suffering.
- Property: the cost of repairing or replacing the vehicle where the damage is proved.
- No-fault relief: the Act also provides a fixed no-fault liability payment for injury and death, payable without proof of negligence, where the claim is brought under that provision.
The figures for the no-fault heads are prescribed by notification and have been revised more than once; the current amounts for your case should be checked against the latest schedule rather than assumed.
Hit-and-run accidents
Where the offending vehicle cannot be traced and the police record the case as a hit-and-run, the Act provides a solatium scheme. A claim is made before the designated claims settlement authority for the area, and the compensation is a fixed statutory sum for death and for grievous hurt. Because the vehicle is untraced, the police report and the identity of the victim are everything; the scheme does not depend on proving who was negligent.
Where to file in Kolkata and West Bengal
There are three different forums and it is easy to pick the wrong one. Your own insurer is a contract claim handled by the insurer's claims office. The Ombudsman or the consumer commission handles a wrongful rejection of that contract claim. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal handles compensation against the other driver. A claim for injury against the other driver does not go to the consumer commission; it goes to the tribunal.
Case status for a tribunal or court case can be tracked on the e-Courts services website, and if you have a pending matter you can look up its number and next date there. If the police would not register your complaint at all, an application to the Magistrate can be made to direct registration, and a lawyer should be consulted before that step.
Common reasons a car claim fails
- The accident was reported to the insurer long after it happened, with no explanation for the delay.
- Repairs were carried out, and the damaged parts thrown away, before the surveyor saw the vehicle.
- The person driving held no licence, or a licence for a different class of vehicle.
- The driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
- The car was being used commercially, for hire or for driving lessons, contrary to a private-car policy.
- The claim was made against the wrong policy year or after the policy had lapsed for non-payment.
None of the delay or document problems can be cured after the fact, which is why the sequence at the start matters more than anything written later. If the file has already gone wrong, take a second opinion before writing off the claim; a rejected own-damage claim and a live third-party injury claim are separate matters and the second is often still intact. For a matter in Kolkata, a free consultation is the quickest way to know which of the two routes you still have.