What to Do If Your Commercial Vehicle Insurance Papers Have Lost?

When you purchase commercial vehicle insurance online or offline, you are issued with a policy document as proof of insurance coverage. The policy papers are supposed to carried in hard copy or soft copy every time the vehicle is used. Moreover, these papers are also essential to raise an insurance claim.

However, there can be times when you misplace or lose your commercial vehicle insurance policy document. That can be quite a difficult situation to be in as you would not be able to raise an insurance claim and also land yourself in trouble if caught driving your vehicle without policy papers. Fortunately, there are ways to come out of this situation and obtain a duplicate copy of your policy document.

What To Do If You Lose Your Commercial Vehicle Insurance Papers?

In case you have lost your commercial vehicle insurance papers, here’s what you should do:

1. Visit Your Motor Insurance Provider’s Website

If you have purchased your commercial vehicle insurance online, you may have the option of downloading the duplicate copy of your policy papers from the website of your insurer. Most insurance companies today provide their customers with the option to download the policy document from their official website. As soon as you realise that your insurance policy papers are missing, you must visit your insurer’s official website. You may either find an option to download your policy or to log in to your account on the website. Enter the requested details, such as your registered email id or policy number. The insurer will either allow you to download your policy papers from the website or send them to your registered email id. When you get your policy document, download it and keep it at a safe location.

2. Contact Your Insurance Agent

In case you had purchased insurance for your commercial vehicles through an insurance agent, you should get in touch with him/ her if you can’t find the policy papers. Most insurance agents save a copy of the insurance policies issued to their clients. There is a possibility that your agent might have a duplicate of your policy document and will be able to share its copy with you.

3. Inform Your Motor Insurer

In case you did not buy commercial vehicle insurance online or through an insurance agent, the first thing to do is informing your motor insurer about the loss of your policy papers. There are several ways to contact your insurer. You can call on their customer support toll-free number, send an email on the customer service id or contact them over social media platforms, such as Twitter. Make sure to keep your policy number handy as the customer representative may ask you to provide it. Do not forget to mention the policy number in case you are sending an email. Also, make sure to call or email your insurer from your registered phone number or email id respectively.

4. Register a Police FIR

Some motor insurance companies require their customers to register an FIR or First Information Report with the Police in case they have lost their policy document. If the same is required by your insurer, visit the nearest police station and register an FIR regarding the loss of your commercial vehicle insurance policy document. Make sure to collect a copy of your FIR from the Police officials as you will need to submit the FIR copy to your insurance company.

5. Publish a Newspaper Advertisement

Apart from lodging an FIR, you need to compulsorily publish an advertisement in a newspaper about the loss of your policy papers. The newspaper can be of English or a regional language but should have circulation throughout the state from where the policyholder operates his/her business. Make sure to mention your policy number, your (policyholder’s) name, your vehicle number and the name of the insurance company in the advertisement. The cost of placing the advertisement in the newspaper will be borne by you. Once the advertisement is published, submit its copy to your motor insurer.

6. Write an Application to Your Insurer

In addition to submitting a copy of the FIR and newspaper advertisement, you will also need to submit a written application regarding the loss of your policy papers to your motor insurance company. The application should talk about the circumstances under which your policy papers went missing. Make sure to mention details, such as your (policyholder’s) name, policy number, policy coverage type and the date of policy issuance in your application.

In case the commercial vehicle insurance policy was purchased jointly under more than one person’s name, a joint application by all the policyholders should be submitted to the insurance company. This is to ensure that all policyholders are aware of the loss of policy papers and have given their consent to obtain its duplicate copy.

7. Get an Indemnity Bond

Lastly, you need to obtain an indemnity bond to get the duplicate copy of your insurance policy document. The bond acts as a surety that you will indemnify your insurer in case any person apart from you or your nominee raises a claim under your commercial vehicle insurance policy. The bond should be made on a non-judicial stamp paper and its charges will be paid by you. Moreover, the bond should be acknowledged by a notary, whose fee will also be borne by you. After you get the indemnity bond, you need to submit it to your motor insurance provider.

Once all the above-mentioned steps have been performed, your motor insurance company will send the duplicate policy document of your commercial vehicle insurance online or via post.

Summing It Up

Anybody can misplace their vehicle insurance policy document. Luckily, you can easily obtain the duplicate policy papers of your commercial vehicle insurance online by following the simple steps mentions earlier. Just make sure to not drive the vehicle whose policy papers are missing unless you obtain its duplicate copy.