Car insurance and expertise: how does it work?

Verified 14 March 2022 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

In the event of a car accident, your insurance company may ask for an expert opinion before compensating you. It is a matter of establishing the circumstances of the disaster, assessing the damage and offering compensation. It's the insurer who decides whether to do an expert opinion, but there are some cases where the law requires the use of an expert. If the insurer's expert report is not suitable for you, you can challenge it and request a counter-expert report, but at your own expense.

In principle, expertise is not mandatory, it is the insurance company that decides whether or not expertise is necessary.

But there are cases where expertise is required. For example, when there is a technological disaster which has caused significant damage.

Generally, the expert travels to the scene of the accident or to the garage where the damaged vehicle was towed.

They note the damage and can determine its causes.

He can also sometimes make his observations from photos, without personally going to the site of the disaster.

He writes an expert report.

This report serves as the basis for the insurance to offer compensation to the insured.

The report shall include the following:

  • Circumstances of the disaster
  • List of goods damaged in the disaster
  • Assessment of damage sustained
  • Conditions of refurbishment (replacement or repair)

The expert is usually appointed by the insurer.

But when a case is brought before the courts, because the insured and the insurer cannot reach an agreement, it is the judge who chooses the expert. It is then a forensic expert.

If you are not satisfied with the expertise provided by the insurance expert, you can challenge it and request a second opinion.

The counter-expertise will be carried out by another expert that you can choose.

The insurer pays the expert he has appointed.

But if you have asked for a second opinion, the costs of this second opinion are at your expense.

Some contracts provide for the guarantee expert fees, which shall reimburse the cost of the expert's report, within the limits laid down in the contract.

Where an expert is appointed by the judge, the judgment shall indicate who is to pay the costs of the expert's examination.

Yes, the expert chosen by your insurer is required to send a copy of his report to the vehicle owner.

You must provide the expert with all the supporting documents that enable him to evaluate the damaged property.

Examples: vehicle purchase invoice, garage maintenance invoices.

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