Accident happens in an instant .
Busy morning as usual, had to drop the two kids for their school. Had taken out the car out the garage – on reverse mode – and BANG! It goes. I slammed into a coconut tree. Thought I was far off 
Damage: The tail light broke, also the reflector, the area just the top of the reflector were pushed back creating a hollow the size of a fist. Sorry, couldn’t find the actual photo of the damage – has been deleted on my phone.
Panicked a little. When I got to my composure, I called up the car insurance company and they advise me what to do.
Here’s what I/we did:
Report the incident
After dropping the kids, I took out the car’s papers with me and went to the police to file a report on the incident. Police said since it was “own accident”, an affidavit would suffice it. So, I went to an attorney, stated what had happen and thus gave me a sworn statement affixing my signature to it.
Papers
Here’s what you should ready in case you are claiming for car insurance. (Own Damage Claim)
- Copy of the car insurance policy and possible receipt. Make sure payments are updated or else, you’ve to pay any arrears before your claims can be process.
- Affidavit (or Police report)
- Copy of car’s Registration and Official Receipt (OR/CR)
- Driver’s License
- Photos of the car’s damage (1 with the damage and another one bearing the car’s plate number)
Damage Estimate via Car Dealer
When all of these has been provided and you have advised your car insurance company about the accident, take the unit directly to the car dealer. It’s fine also if you want to drop by the insurance company first to get insurance claims form – which is needed too. But then, we let the car dealer and the insurance staff take care of this matter. What’s important is, have the car’s damage checked at the dealer so they’ll do cost estimate. This cost estimate will then be forwarded to the the insurance company.
Turn Around Time
When all the necessary papers had been forwarded, we were advised to wait for at least 2 business days for the result from the car insurance.
Glad the insurance company was fast, they called on us to advise us that the agreement/papers were approved and is was okay to bring the car to the dealer for the restoration process.
We were advised by the dealer that it will take 4 days for the job to be finish. So okay.
Cost of the Damage – Personal share
For the damage, the car dealer had it cost at 43,144 Php. The whole back door will be replaced except for the windshield. Tail light and reflector will also be replaced. – Our share? 2000 Php only.
That’s thanks to the car’s comprehensive insurance. Our first year’s annual fee was around 23k Php. Second year was at around 21k Php.