Hi everyone, its been a while. Business as usual for us but with some limitations. We can do all the administrative jobs like making a proposal, policy issuance, issuing an official receipt (scanned), do follow ups on renewals. We can all do these while on quarantine. But i failed to mention, processing claims. Yes, the insurance company and its employees are also humans and are bound by the presidential proclamation (Proclamation No.929) putting the entire Philippines under state of calamity due to the Covid19 pandemic. So, they can’t do most jobs done by a claims processor except for making a claims entry into their remote system. As claims processor, they have to read, study and analyse the claim documents provided which they can do via email, they also have to check the prevailing value of certain parts of a car like a bumper ( how much is bumper?) price differs base on location (Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao), on Year model, on availability. This canvassing of parts alone, they can’t do because all stores are closed as well, so they stop here. It wont make sense for them to issue a LOA (letter of authority) as well, because all service centers are closed. They can’t process your claims check too without doing prudence to back up their evaluation.

So what do we need to do? i use ” we” because i am no exempted to the situation as well even the president of the insurance company.

If we encounter an unfortunate event like a major car crash during the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) Do this steps: 

1. Check the safety and well being of all the people involved first. Head to the nearest Hospital if required.
2. Document the incident. Take photos and videos of the incident, if you have a dash cam, save it. Proper angles of the photos should include the collision far view showing all vehicles involved, near view showing the collided parts of the vehicle. a view showing the plate numbers of vehicles involved if possible. When both parties (you and the third party) are done documenting, put your vehicles aside. (courtesy to others)
3. Exchange pertinent information and documents.  3.a. Name (drivers license) 3.b. Contact Number 3.c. ORCR ( identification of the vehicle), if the driver is not the registered owner of the vehicle, ask for his/her connection with the registered owner. Will explain further on this. 3.d. Insurance Policy (either TPL or comprehensive)
4. Agree to disagree. Most car accidents wind up without a driver at fault. Its a he says she says game. if this happens, agree that the insurance will do the evaluation when the ECQ is over. On the other hand, if you are at fault, tell them that insurance will do the evaluation after the ECQ. If they asked for money, its a judgement call on your part, because if you gave too much, you might not be able to reimburse that from your insurance company. You need a basis, a fair value of the actual damage. That is why i really recommend to wait for the insurance, the other party can’t have his car fixed anyway. And remember that the gesture of exchanging informations meant that you are not running away from the liability. 
5. When the gesture is not enough, go to the nearest Police precinct and secure a Traffic Accident report, its the most pertinent document anyway. The officers should mediate the accident without bias and therefore calm both parties down. The downside of this is, you will definitely expose yourself to the virus.
6. If your vehicle is not drivable due to the accident, call your insurance providers’ 24/7 roadside assistance, as of this writing, they are accommodating.
7. After securing 1-6. Inform your insurance agent, broker of the incident. When i receive your call or email, i will immediately report it to your insurance provider, and make sure that they acknowledge it.

Do these steps and surely, your insurance will trust your due diligence and most likely you will be able to claim for it when everything goes back to normal. Just be sure that your insurance policy is valid meaning fully paid on time and its not expired. I have several experiences that people think they are covered only to find out that they rejected the renewal notice we sent them stating i’ve been insuring for years and nothing happens until…

To add on 3.c. Only in the Philippines, that we allow open deed of sale vehicles driven on the streets, meaning the registered owner already sold his car but didn’t care if the buyer fulfilled the transfer of ownership between them thus putting his name vulnerable to possible car accident lawsuits, traffic violations and more. It is important for you to know the provenance of the vehicle.  Specially when you have to pay for the damages. What if you paid for the damages and the driver was a car thief? its ridiculous but it can happen. What if you paid for the damages to the driver but he was unauthorised to drive the vehicle? The insurance would want to release any form of payment legally, that will not put you and them in jeopardy. So you need to do your due diligence to secure provenance.

In case you injured a pedestrian, bring to the nearest hospital. You have up to P15,000 pesos for reimbursement. You will claim this against your TPL as No Fault Indemnity, meaning you are not yet liable for the accident, you are just acting humanely. When the person is already safe, you should now secure the Traffic Accident report from the nearest traffic precinct. How to reimburse the 15,000 No Fault Indemnity? Secure all (original) receipts named to the pedestrian and his ID(copy) and submit it to your agent, broker or insurance provider. Just a reminder, you ain’t getting the P15000 if your receipts are not equivalent to it, that is just the maximum. So when the case evolves and the traffic report concluded that you are at fault, then you have additional P70,000 dedicated for medical reimbursements with sub-limits written in your respective TPL policy, again it is the maximum and you have to secure receipts. For death claims, the P100,000 TPL will be divided to 30,000 (death arrangements) and 70,000 will go the beneficiary. This is where you should pay attention, if you already spent P50,000 for the hospital bills and the patient died after, you only have P20,000 left for his beneficiary. This is why securing a comprehensive insurance is the best way to protect you from financial troubles like this. It is an extension to your TPL.

Its really complicated. Getting to an accident on normal days are complicated, what more during the enhanced community quarantine? You are technically exposing yourself and your family to the virus if you are put in to this situation so please STAY with you family at HOME. Let’s all do our part. #coronavirus #covid19 #staysafestayhome #Healasone #bayanihan

You may also read this article: http://www.insuranceexperts.ph/2015/10/insurance-to-insurance-whats-the-real-meaning/(opens in a new tab)