i was having a discussion with a friend about auto insurance and accidents involving insurance claims. my friend then began to explain their understanding of auto insurance accident claims in europe to me. they were saying for example if i was in europe driving my vanagon and i was involved in an accident that the standard way to handle the situation of an non-injury accident would be this. the two parties would get out insurance supplied forms that they are supposed to keep in their glove boxes. each would then write down their version of events and submit it to the insurance company in order to make a claim. in this scenario there are no police or others called, i guess its just kind of a self service deal. i will contrast this with what is the general flow of things in my location (michigan) in the united states. after the accident the police are contacted. usually between the time that the accident happens and the police arrive some witnesses make themselves available, this a best case scenario of course. after the police arrive they take each of the involved parties aside and get their version of the story. the police will often also take statements from any available witnesses, and analyze the accident scene for evidence such as tire marks and such. after all this is done then the accident scene is cleaned up and tow trucks are called if needed. then in a couple days time the police write up the official report of what happened citing blame and issuing tickets if tickets are not issued at the scene. the insurance companies then use this official police report to work out the details of who or who's insurance company pays what to cover the costs of the accident and subsequent auto repairs. if some one could elaborate on the process used in europe to record and make claims when one is involved in non-injury accidents i would be interested to hear about it in case i am ever in a accident in on my future european vanagon tour :). also any opinions on how well the european system works would be interesting to hear. as an additional note i believe my friend was saying that this european system is in use in all countries in the european union except in england and possibly one other country. jonathan |
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