How to fill in accident reports

An accident report is required when filing an insurance claim such as a road traffic accident claim to an insurance company. An accident report can be in the form of a structured insurance claim form which guides you to the relevant information to disclose. The necessary information (when filling in an accident report) relates to the description of the incident, the place, when it occurred and the person who was involved. This article provides a guide on how to fill in accident reports.

Information to be disclosed

Accident report forms vary with the incident involved and requirements, but the basic information required is detailed below:
- Description of the accident This refers to what actually happened that led to the loss, such as fire damage to premises. This helps an insurance company to ascertain if the proximate cause of the loss is covered and to what limit. Most motor accident claim forms require the driver or the insured to draw a sketch map which shows what happened.
- Place of occurrence The place of occurrence is important because it helps to identify the asset involved with the specific risk address given on inception of the policy as well as to determine if the claim is within the territorial limit covered by the policy.
- Date and time The date and time of the incident are important for claim-processing purposes.
- People involved This refers to the people who are involved in the accident like the driver, passengers and other third parties. Major accidents are normally reported on public news channels like Train News, AA Roadwatch and ICC website, and motor accidents require police reports in order to support the whereabouts of the accident and the people involved. - Insured’s details This relates to the policy holder’s personal and policy details such as name and policy number.

- Risk details Risk details are necessary like the motor vehicle details and HSE details so as to ascertain that the risk is insured and the cost of the insurance. - Estimate of the loss An accident form has a section where you complete the estimate of the loss, and support the amount claimed with repair, replacement quotations or medical bills in case of a travel insurance sickness claim.

Importance of accident reports

Insurance purposes An accident report is completed when reporting an insurance claim to an insurance company.
Administration purposes An accident book is used for in-house administration purposes, and to decide on how to react to an accident such as implementing risk-management programmes.