Checklist · Insurance

Making an Auto Insurance Claim and Pursuing Uninsured Motorist Benefits: A Practical Checklist

49 U.S.C. § 32705

Type
Checklist
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2024-02-25
Topic
Insurance

A sequenced checklist for handling an auto insurance claim from the scene through distribution. Section A covers the first forty-eight hours, and Section B builds the coverage map that determines everything else. Section C reads the declarations page and requests the underwriting file. Section D handles first-dollar coverages and no-fault applications. Section E works the uninsured and underinsured motorist claim, and Section F protects it through the consent-to-settle sequence. Section G handles the vehicle: total loss, valuation, diminished value, and appraisal. Section H covers the liability claim and the policy limits demand, and Section I covers bad faith documentation. Section J covers liens, allocation, and distribution, and Section K is a pre-loss coverage audit for anyone who has not had a crash yet.

Making an Auto Insurance Claim and Pursuing Uninsured Motorist Benefits: A Practical Checklist

Insurance > Auto Insurance and Uninsured Motorist Claims | Published 25 February 2024 - Updated 23 April 2025 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

How to use this

Sections A through J run in order after a crash. Section K is preventive and takes ten minutes. The single most consequential item is number 12 — signing a liability release without the underinsured motorist carrier's consent can forfeit the largest coverage in the case.

SECTION A — THE FIRST FORTY-EIGHT HOURS

☐ 1. Call police and get a report number. For a hit-and-run, report immediately — many policies and statutes impose a twenty-four-hour reporting requirement for uninsured motorist claims.

☐ 2. Photograph everything: vehicle positions, all damage on all vehicles, debris, skid marks, roadway, signage, signals, weather, and injuries.

☐ 3. Get witness names and phone numbers at the scene. They evaporate within hours.

☐ 4. For a phantom-vehicle or no-contact crash, canvass nearby businesses for camera footage the same day. It is overwritten within days and it is the whole case.

☐ 5. Get medical evaluation. Follow every referral. Do not create a treatment gap.

☐ 6. Report to your own insurer, in writing, even if the other driver was clearly at fault. This satisfies prompt-notice conditions on UM, UIM, MedPay, PIP, and collision simultaneously.

☐ 7. Decline the adverse carrier's recorded statement. You owe cooperation to your own insurer, not to theirs.

☐ 8. Photograph the vehicle before it is moved or repaired — exterior, interior, odometer, tires.

☐ 9. If a vehicle defect may be involved, instruct every carrier in writing not to dispose of the vehicle, and be prepared to pay storage.

☐ 10. Start a file: dates, names, claim numbers, adjusters, and every communication.

☐ 11. Do not post about the crash, and do not delete existing posts.

SECTION B — BUILD THE COVERAGE MAP

☐ 12. ⚠️ Before anything else, understand that settling with the liability carrier without your UIM carrier's written consent can forfeit the UIM claim entirely. Read Section F before signing anything.

☐ 13. At-fault side: liability policy · umbrella · employer policy if working · vehicle owner's policy if borrowed · commercial or motor carrier policy · platform coverage if rideshare or delivery.

☐ 14. Your side: your auto policy (UM, UIM, MedPay, PIP, collision, comprehensive, rental, towing) · every policy in your household · any umbrella with excess UM/UIM · health insurance · disability coverage · employer coverage if working.

☐ 15. Setting: rental or car-share platform coverage · credit card rental benefit · government claim if a road defect contributed, with its own short notice deadline · product claim against a manufacturer.

☐ 16. For an injured pedestrian or cyclist: ask whether anyone in the household owns a vehicle. UM commonly covers resident family members struck on foot or on a bike.

☐ 17. Request declarations pages for every identified policy in writing.

☐ 18. Determine priority of coverage — coverage generally follows the vehicle first, then the driver; "other insurance" clauses set the order.

SECTION C — READ THE POLICY AND GET THE FILE

☐ 19. Read the declarations page in order: named insureds · listed vehicles · liability limits · UM/UIM limits · number of vehicles · MedPay or PIP · deductibles · rental caps · endorsement list · policy period.

☐ 20. Confirm the vehicle involved is listed. An owned-but-unlisted vehicle is a coverage problem.

☐ 21. Read every endorsement. Named driver exclusions, business use, and rideshare endorsements are always on separate pages.

☐ 22. Request the complete policy as issued, with all endorsements.

☐ 23. Request the underwriting file — application, original signed UM/UIM selection or rejection form, every renewal declarations page, and any replacement-policy documentation.

☐ 24. Evaluate the rejection form against the state's formalities. A defective form can result in coverage read in at the full liability limit, which changes the case more than any other single fact.

☐ 25. Determine whether your state is an offset or excess UIM state, and how the UIM trigger is measured.

☐ 26. Determine whether stacking is permitted intra-policy and inter-policy, and whether any anti-stacking waiver satisfies state formalities.

☐ 27. Check for a household/family exclusion and whether it is enforceable in your state.

☐ 28. Calendar three separate clocks: the tort statute of limitations, the contractual suit limitation against your own insurer, and every policy notice condition.

SECTION D — FIRST-DOLLAR COVERAGES

☐ 29. Open the MedPay claim immediately. It pays regardless of fault and requires no proof of liability.

☐ 30. In a no-fault state, file the PIP application within the deadline — sometimes thirty days. Late applications are routinely denied.

☐ 31. Check the PIP coordination election; a health-primary election shifts deductible exposure to the insured.

☐ 32. Use first-dollar coverage to fund deductibles, copays, and providers who will not bill health insurance. Treatment gaps are the most reliable predictor of a discounted claim.

☐ 33. Track whether MedPay or PIP subrogation is permitted in your state; it changes net recovery.

☐ 34. Attend any independent medical examination, bring an observer, record the start and end times and what was actually examined, and request the report.

☐ 35. In a no-fault state, determine early whether the tort threshold is met, and build the medical record toward the statute's exact language.

SECTION E — THE UM / UIM CLAIM

☐ 36. Confirm the trigger: uninsured · unidentified · denied · insolvent · underinsured.

☐ 37. Obtain written confirmation of the at-fault driver's limits, or an affidavit of no coverage.

☐ 38. Compute the UIM math for your state. Offset state: UIM limit minus liability recovery. Excess state: UIM limit plus liability recovery.

☐ 39. Identify every stackable limit — per vehicle, per policy, per household.

☐ 40. Attack the rejection form if UM/UIM was declined or reduced.

☐ 41. For phantom-vehicle claims, assemble the corroboration: police report, witnesses, video, physical evidence.

☐ 42. Provide the UM/UIM carrier the same complete package you would give a liability carrier — records, bills, imaging, wage documentation, and a physician's causation and prognosis opinion.

☐ 43. Document every request and every non-response with dates. In first-party claims, delay is the most common bad faith fact pattern, and the chronology is the claim.

☐ 44. Read the policy's arbitration clause: does it reach coverage questions, or only liability and damages? Is there a consent threshold?

☐ 45. Calendar the contractual suit limitation against your own insurer separately from the tort deadline.

SECTION F — THE CONSENT-TO-SETTLE SEQUENCE

☐ 46. Reach a tentative settlement with the liability carrier — do not sign.

☐ 47. Notify the UM/UIM carrier in writing, disclose the terms, and expressly request consent.

☐ 48. Allow the policy's or statute's response period to run. Document it.

☐ 49. The UM/UIM carrier either consents in writing or advances the settlement amount to preserve its subrogation rights.

☐ 50. Only then execute the liability release.

☐ 51. ⚠️ Draft the release narrowly. Name only the at-fault driver, the vehicle owner, and the named liability insurer. Expressly reserve UM, UIM, MedPay, PIP, and all claims against every other party.

☐ 52. Check the definition of "Released Parties." That single sentence is where the damage is done.

☐ 53. Include the damages allocation and the lien-resolution terms in the release itself.

SECTION G — THE VEHICLE

☐ 54. Determine whether the vehicle is a total loss under the state's threshold or the insurer's formula.

☐ 55. Demand the valuation report and read every comparable.

☐ 56. Check comparables for mileage, trim, options, condition, and geographic market.

☐ 57. Challenge condition adjustments made without an inspection.

☐ 58. Challenge "projected sold adjustments" reducing listing prices to assumed sale prices.

☐ 59. Demand sales tax, title, and registration fees as components of actual cash value.

☐ 60. Submit receipts for recent major work — tires, transmission, engine — supporting an upward adjustment.

☐ 61. Submit your own local comparables at the correct trim and mileage.

☐ 62. If the gap persists, invoke the appraisal clause. It is faster and cheaper than suit and is badly underused.

☐ 63. Demand diminished value from the at-fault carrier, with a qualified appraisal attached. Insurers do not volunteer it.

☐ 64. Watch storage charges; they can exceed the vehicle's value within weeks.

☐ 65. If a lien or tow charge blocks release, check the statutory notice and hearing requirements — many are not followed.

☐ 66. Confirm gap or loan/lease payoff coverage where the loan exceeds actual cash value.

☐ 67. Confirm the title branding and, if the vehicle is later repaired and resold, the odometer and disclosure obligations at 49 U.S.C. § 32705 and 49 C.F.R. Part 580, with the private action at 49 U.S.C. § 32710.

☐ 68. Track rental daily and aggregate caps, and claim loss of use separately from a third-party carrier where the state allows it.

SECTION H — THE LIABILITY CLAIM AND LIMITS DEMAND

☐ 69. Confirm liability with the report, photographs, witnesses, and any video.

☐ 70. Assemble the complete medical package — records, bills, imaging, and a treating physician's causation and prognosis opinion.

☐ 71. Document wage loss with employer records and tax returns.

☐ 72. Determine the state's comparative fault regime before valuing anything.

☐ 73. Determine whether recovery is limited to amounts paid or accepted rather than billed.

☐ 74. Send a time-limited policy limits demand containing: the limits demanded · liability proof · complete medicals · wage loss · a reasonable deadline · an offer to supply anything further · lien disclosure and a commitment to resolve · the exact release language offered.

☐ 75. ⚠️ Do not engineer a demand to be impossible to accept. Short fuses, withheld records, and technical acceptance conditions undermine the claim they are meant to build.

☐ 76. Preserve the excess-judgment theory: if the carrier refuses a reasonable within-limits demand, document why the refusal was unreasonable.

SECTION I — BAD FAITH DOCUMENTATION

☐ 77. Build a chronology: every request, every response, every silence, with dates.

☐ 78. Demand a written explanation for any denial or reduced offer; unfair claims practices acts generally require one.

☐ 79. Note failures to acknowledge, to investigate reasonably, or to attempt fair settlement where liability is reasonably clear.

☐ 80. In litigation, seek the claim file, adjuster diary entries, reserves, internal evaluations, claims manuals, and examiner engagement history.

☐ 81. Determine whether your state's unfair claims act creates a private right of action, or supplies only the standard of care.

☐ 82. Consider whether an assignment and covenant not to execute is available and permitted in your state.

☐ 83. Evaluate punitive exposure against the constitutional guideposts of BMW of North America v. Gore, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell, and Cooper Industries v. Leatherman Tool Group.

☐ 84. File a department of insurance complaint — free, and it produces a written insurer response and a regulatory record.

SECTION J — LIENS, ALLOCATION, AND DISTRIBUTION

☐ 85. Start Medicare conditional payment resolution early — 42 U.S.C. § 1395y. It is slow and it exposes everyone who touches the funds.

☐ 86. Identify Medicaid recovery, ERISA plan reimbursement, hospital and provider liens, workers' compensation liens, and MedPay/PIP subrogation.

☐ 87. Check lien perfection. Many statutory hospital liens are defective.

☐ 88. Allocate the settlement among bodily injury, property damage, consortium, and wrongful death, with a documented basis.

☐ 89. Negotiate lien reductions before agreeing to a settlement number.

☐ 90. Confirm tax treatment: physical injury damages generally excluded under 26 U.S.C. § 104; punitive damages and interest generally are not.

☐ 91. Provide the client a written net distribution statement before disbursement.

SECTION K — PRE-LOSS COVERAGE AUDIT

☐ 92. Match UM/UIM to your liability limits. In most states this is inexpensive.

☐ 93. Determine whether your state is an offset state. If it is, minimum UIM buys nothing.

☐ 94. Buy an umbrella and ask specifically for excess UM/UIM. Many exclude it by default.

☐ 95. Carry MedPay, even modestly.

☐ 96. List every vehicle and every household driver. Know about any named driver exclusion.

☐ 97. If anyone in the household drives for a rideshare or delivery platform, buy the endorsement now.

☐ 98. Confirm coverage for regularly used non-owned vehicles, including employer vehicles.

☐ 99. Photograph the vehicle annually — exterior, interior, odometer, tires.

☐ 100. Keep receipts for major work; they are worth real money in a valuation dispute.

☐ 101. If a premium jumps, demand the adverse action notice and check the consumer report — 15 U.S.C. § 1681m, 15 U.S.C. § 1681g, and dispute under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i.

☐ 102. Read the endorsement list once a year. Ten minutes here is worth more than any litigation strategy in this field.

SECTION L — DOCUMENT REQUEST LIST

Send this to your own insurer in writing at the outset. Most of it is produced without a fight, and each item forecloses a later dispute.

☐ 103. The complete policy as issued for the policy period of the loss, with every endorsement ☐ 104. All declarations pages for the current and three preceding policy periods ☐ 105. The application for the policy ☐ 106. The original signed UM/UIM selection or rejection form, and every subsequent one ☐ 107. Documentation of any cancellation and rewrite as new business, which may have required a fresh offer ☐ 108. All renewal offers and coverage-change solicitations ☐ 109. The premium breakdown by coverage and by vehicle — separate per-vehicle UM premiums matter to stacking ☐ 110. Any anti-stacking waiver and the form on which it was executed ☐ 111. The insurer's claim file to date, including adjuster notes and diary entries ☐ 112. Any internal evaluation of the claim and the method or software used ☐ 113. All correspondence with any independent medical examiner or record reviewer, including engagement volume and compensation ☐ 114. The insurer's written explanation for any denial, reduction, or delay ☐ 115. The insurer's claims handling guidelines applicable to this coverage ☐ 116. Any reservation of rights letter and the grounds asserted ☐ 117. The total loss valuation report with all comparables and every adjustment identified

📌 The underwriting file is more valuable than the accident file in a thin-coverage case. Where the rejection formalities failed, coverage may be reformed to the full liability limit, and nothing else moves the number that much.

SECTION M — SITUATION-SPECIFIC BRANCHES

☐ 118. Hit-and-run with contact. Police report within the statutory window; UM claim; canvass for video; check whether UM property damage carries a deductible.

☐ 119. Phantom vehicle, no contact. Determine whether the state requires physical contact or permits corroboration. Secure the witness or the video in the first twenty-four hours or the claim is likely lost.

☐ 120. Rideshare or delivery driver at fault. Determine the operational period from platform records; identify platform contingent and commercial coverage; expect the personal policy to exclude; consider your own UM/UIM if platform coverage denies.

☐ 121. Borrowed vehicle. Owner's policy usually primary, driver's policy usually excess. Confirm permissive use and check for a named driver exclusion.

☐ 122. Employer vehicle. Check the commercial auto policy, and check whether the personal policy's regular-use exclusion defeats personal coverage. Consider a workers' compensation claim and its lien.

☐ 123. Rental vehicle. Personal liability usually extends; collision usually extends with the same deductible; credit card benefits may apply. The gaps are loss-of-use and administrative fees.

☐ 124. Car-share or peer-to-peer. Platform terms and increasingly specific state statutes control which policy responds.

☐ 125. Commercial truck. Motor carrier coverage, higher limits, and separate federal safety-regulation discovery. See Motor Vehicle Collisions.

☐ 126. Government vehicle or road defect. Notice of claim deadlines can be ninety days or less and are frequently jurisdictional. Calendar this the day the claim is opened.

☐ 127. Suspected vehicle defect. Preserve the vehicle, notify all carriers in writing, and do not permit salvage disposal.

☐ 128. Injured pedestrian or cyclist. Ask about every household vehicle policy — Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Micromobility Injuries.

☐ 129. Minor or incapacitated claimant. Court approval of settlement, structured settlement consideration, and guardianship or conservatorship questions.

☐ 130. Fatality. Wrongful death and survival claims have separate beneficiaries, separate damages, and separate limitations periods. Open an estate before settling anything.

SECTION N — QUICK REFERENCE

☐ 131. Report to your own carrier, always, in writing. It preserves UM, UIM, MedPay, PIP, and collision at once. ☐ 132. Never sign a liability release without UM/UIM consent. ☐ 133. Offset state? UIM limit minus liability payment. Excess state? UIM limit plus liability payment. ☐ 134. Get the rejection form. A defective one may reform coverage to the full liability limit. ☐ 135. MedPay first. It is the fastest money and prevents treatment gaps. ☐ 136. Demand the valuation report on any total loss, and invoke appraisal if the gap persists. ☐ 137. Ask for diminished value. Nobody volunteers it. ☐ 138. Three clocks: tort limitations · contractual suit limitation · policy notice conditions. ☐ 139. Medicare first, distribution last — 42 U.S.C. § 1395y; tax treatment under 26 U.S.C. § 104. ☐ 140. Credit-based rate increase? Demand the adverse action notice under 15 U.S.C. § 1681m; obtain the file under 15 U.S.C. § 1681g; dispute under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i; accuracy duties at 15 U.S.C. § 1681e; furnisher duties at 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2; remedies at 15 U.S.C. § 1681n and 15 U.S.C. § 1681o; regulation at 12 C.F.R. Part 1022. ☐ 141. Insurance is state law — 15 U.S.C. § 1011 and 15 U.S.C. § 1012. Verify every rule in this list against your state. ☐ 142. The best day to fix your coverage was the day before the crash. Section K takes ten minutes.

Related Documents