General Insurance · advanced
General Insurance Claims — In Depth
How a general insurance claim runs from start to finish: intimation, documents, the surveyor's assessment, settlement discussions, and the routes for a dispute — grievance, Ombudsman, consumer commission and arbitration.
- 01Claim Intimation ProcessClaim intimation, the first formal step in a general insurance claim: what it is, when and how notice is given, what the insurer needs at that stage, and how the law treats delay.
- 02Documents Checklist (Product-wise)The documents that support a general insurance claim, product by product, what each one proves, and what IRDAI's 2024 rules say about claims and missing documents.
- 03Surveyor's Role & Loss AssessmentThe surveyor and loss assessor: who they are, when one is mandatory, the timelines for appointment and report in retail claims, what the report covers including salvage, and what an insured can do on disagreeing with it.
- 04Negotiation TacticsHow a policyholder engages with the insurer when the assessment or offer seems too low: reading the survey report, answering it with evidence, the decision timeline, the discharge voucher, and the first step of escalation.
- 05Legal Escalation ProcessThe routes for a claim dispute beyond the insurer's claims team: the Grievance Redressal Officer, IRDAI's Bima Bharosa portal, the Insurance Ombudsman, the consumer commissions and the civil courts, with their limits and time periods.
- 06Arbitration: How It WorksArbitration in general insurance: what the traditional clause covered, how IRDAI's October 2023 circular changed it for retail and commercial policies, and how an arbitration runs under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
- 07Ombudsman Filing ProcessThe Insurance Ombudsman: who can complain, the steps required first, the one-year time limit, mediation and award, the ₹50 lakh cap, and what the award means for the insurer and the complainant.