Motor and property losses often engage several contracts and liability regimes at once. Identify every policy, insured vehicle or asset, driver or custodian, claimant and alleged responsible third party. Preserve the scene, police or fire records, photographs, telematics, repair and valuation material before disposal or repair changes the evidence.
Preserve native electronic records and originals, maintain a dated claim ledger, and calendar contractual, statutory, arbitration and litigation deadlines separately. Do not assume that a complaint or ongoing adjustment suspends another deadline.
Subject to editorial and legal review. Insurance coverage and recovery are policy- and fact-specific. Urgent notice, mitigation, evidence and limitation issues require case-specific advice.
Separate compulsory and commercial motor cover
For traffic incidents, map compulsory motor liability insurance, commercial third-party liability, vehicle-damage cover and any occupant or personal policies separately. Liability allocation, policy exclusions and payment order are distinct questions. Confirm current policy wording, limits and accident date.
Protect urgent interests
Prioritize medical treatment, scene safety, loss mitigation and required reporting. Obtain the traffic-accident determination and underlying evidence where available, but assess its evidentiary role rather than treating it as an automatic civil judgment.
Property loss and business interruption
For buildings, inventory, equipment or cargo, preserve the pre-loss condition, ownership or insured interest, cause, damaged items, salvage and repair or replacement basis. Business-interruption claims require the relevant extension, waiting period, indemnity period, accounting baseline and causal link to insured physical loss.
Survey, repair and valuation disputes
Coordinate access for inspection while retaining independent photographs, samples, estimates and expert material. Distinguish repairability, depreciation, betterment, residual value and total-loss thresholds under the policy and applicable rules.
Third parties and recovery
Do not release a tortfeasor, contractor, tenant, carrier or manufacturer without considering insurer recovery. Allocate insured and uninsured losses, deductibles and subrogated claims clearly, and preserve limitation periods against all potentially responsible parties.
Checklist
- All compulsory and commercial policies.
- Accident, fire, weather or incident evidence.
- Ownership, insured-interest and asset records.
- Medical, repair, replacement and valuation proof.
- Business-interruption accounting where claimed.
- Third-party liability and recovery map.
Official sources
- National Financial Regulatory Administration: Insurance Law
- Ministry of Justice: Compulsory Motor Insurance Regulation
- Supreme People’s Court: Insurance Law Interpretation IV
Law checked: September 12, 2026. The operative policy wording, official Chinese texts, product rules and case-specific evidence control.
