How to claim compensation under Third Party Motor Insurance
With increasing number of vehicles there are increasing numbers of accidents in the country. And someone has to take the responsibility for it. And usually people understand this and get and insurance policy which will help them out when they get into any such accident. Even the government also understands this and had made third party insurance compulsory. So that at least some third person who gets injured because of your negligence doesn’t has to suffer.
Any insurance policy contains provisions regarding what will have to you and your vehicle when you get injured and what will happen when any third person or his property gets damaged by your vehicle. Some of us may decide of not having any insurance policy but in that scenario also, we ought to have third party insurance and if we don’t, we can’t drive that vehicle on the road.
Some things should be kept in mind about third party insurance. The beneficiary of this policy is the injured person and you are just the nominal beneficiary to it. Any loss which has been incurred to you or your vehicle because of the accident cannot be claimed under this head. The claim by the injured can be filed under any of the two heads, under fault liability or no fault liability. If filed under the no fault liability, fixed compensation is given to the injured (Rs 25,000) or the legal heirs of the deceased (Rs 50000). In case the compensation is claimed under fault liability, the injured can ask for as much compensation it wants, and it will paid by the insurance company. And here the burden of the proof will lie on the injured to show negligence on the part of the accused.
For claiming compensation you will require a personal injury lawyer who will file a case in the motor accidents claims tribunal of the city where either the accident happened or in which the injured/defendant resides, within 60 days of the accident taking place. For the case you will need to present your personal injury lawyer who in turn will present in tribunal with documents like FIR and surveyor’s report and evidence supporting how much damage you have incurred. The insurance company which covers the third party insurance of the defendant will make certain investigation, like were you carrying a proper driving license, etc. And on the basis of all these information the court will give its decision. It is not always necessary that you get the exact amount demanded by you, and in that scenario you cannot claim the remaining amount of damage from your insurance company under ‘own damages’.
Though it may seem like an easy process, but it isn’t. There is a lot of risk involved in this process because you can ask for compensation once only, either from third party insurance of the defendant or from your insurance company under personal damages. So this decision has to be made carefully and must be advised by the personal injury lawyer too. Another important thing to be kept in mind is that all the documents needed should be present; it will help you getting a favourable judgement.