From damage to payout: the complete guide to an insurance claim in Greece

At a glance

Eight days is the general deadline for notice, under the insurance contract law (Law 2496/1997 art. 7) ¹. A road accident has eight working days (P.D. 237/1986 art. 9) ².
You have a duty to limit the damage. Its costs are usually covered.
Keep the cause of the damage unchanged until it is recorded.
In motor third-party liability, the insurer of the person at fault owes a reasoned offer within three months from the day you gave notice of the claim ³.
Each policy sets its own excesses. One public example, the car IPID of Hellas Direct: natural events and malicious acts €300, partial theft €75, own damage €500 to €2,000 ⁴.
The payment restores the loss and no more: you get the value, not the purchase price.
Before the courts there are three free steps.
The limitation period is four years in indemnity insurance and five in personal insurance, such as life, accident and health (Law 2496/1997 art. 10) ¹. The direct claim of a road accident victim against the motor insurer runs out five years after the accident ².

The point

You pay premiums for years without asking what you buy. You find out on the day something breaks, burns, is stolen or is hit, and you pick up the phone.

That day you learn that insurance is not a promise but a process, with stages, deadlines, paperwork, and points where people lose money without noticing. Many lose it not through an unfair insurer, but because they threw away the burst pipe, did not call the police, signed a paper unread, or did not ask why.

This guide is the whole route in one place: the frame common to every insurance, what changes by line, the deadlines, the documents, and what to do when the answer is no.

The same route, in every insurance

A crashed car, a flooded living room or a hospital stay: the five stages do not change.

Stage 1: the first hours

More is decided here than you imagine: here evidence is made or lost.

Safety first. People, then things.

Stop the damage. The main switch, a warning triangle on the road, plastic over the broken window. The law requires it, and the reasonable costs fall on the insurer, even above the sum insured (Law 2496/1997 art. 7 par. 3) ¹.

Record before you touch. Photos from far and close, a one-minute video, and above all the cause: the burst pipe, the burnt socket, the forced lock, the position of the vehicles.

Call an authority where needed. The police for a theft, an injury, a dispute over fault, or an uninsured or unknown vehicle. The fire service for a fire. Without that paper, some cases do not stand in practice.

Take witness details. Name and phone. Two minutes you cannot repeat later.

Stage 2: the notice

Phone your insurer or agent and get a claim number. Then write too. A call is forgotten, a message stays.

Write little and precisely: when, where, what happened to what. Do not interpret or assume fault. If you do not know something, say so.

Ask three things and note the answers: which papers are needed, whether to wait for the adjuster before any work, and when they will contact you.

Stage 3: the inspection

The insurer sends a loss adjuster or asks for documents. The adjuster works for the insurer, but does technical work: what happened, from what, and what it costs.

Be ready, with a printed list of everything destroyed. Show the cause first, then the results. Do not “tidy up” before the visit.

At the end, ask what the adjuster will write as the cause and whether a paper is missing. Ask for a copy of the report. Many disagreements end once someone reads it.

Stage 4: the valuation

Here applies the most misunderstood rule: insurance restores the loss and no more. You get neither what you paid nor the price of a new item, unless your policy says so expressly.

Three factors decide the final sum:

The value. For a car, its market value on the day of the accident. For a building, the cost of reinstatement. For contents, with or without a deduction for age, as a “new for old” clause decides.

The excess. The sum you bear in each claim.

Limits and sub-limits. The total sum insured does not mean each category is fully covered. Jewellery, cash, electronics and basements often have their own, smaller limits.

Stage 5: payment or refusal

If all goes well, you get a notice with the sum and sign a discharge receipt (εξοφλητική απόδειξη). Read what you sign. If you disagree but want the undisputed part, ask for a note that it is paid on account, with reservation.

If you get a refusal, do not argue at once. First ask for four documents: the reasoned refusal with the clause, the adjuster’s report, the terms in force on the day of the loss, and the details of the complaints department.

Three free steps come before the courts: a written complaint to the complaints department, a complaint to the Bank of Greece, and mediation by the Consumer Ombudsman.

What changes by line

Vehicles. The line with a legal deadline for a reasoned offer, three months from your notice ³, and with two parallel systems: the friendly settlement for small claims between insurers in the agreement, and the usual procedure for the rest. When the person at fault is uninsured or unknown, the Auxiliary Fund pays, under its own rules.

Home. The loss adjuster visits, and the weight falls on the inventory of contents. Earthquake is often a separate cover with its own excess. Read whether the excess counts on the sum insured or on the damage.

Health. No loss adjuster, but pre-approval. Whether the hospital is in the network changes both the procedure and your share. Waiting periods and pre-existing conditions are the two main reasons for refusal.

Liability. The payment goes to the third party you harmed, not to you. Give notice fast, and do not accept liability in writing without your insurer.

Travel. Notice often goes by phone from abroad, to a 24-hour line. A frequent loss is receipts not kept.

The deadlines in one table

What	Deadline	Counted from
Notice of a loss	8 days ¹	When you learned of it
Notice of a road accident	8 working days ²	The accident
Theft report to the police	At once, the same day	The discovery
Reasoned offer, motor third-party liability	3 months ³	Your notice of the claim
Payment, other insurance	As the policy terms say	As the policy terms say
Withdrawal from personal insurance, or indemnity insurance over one year	14 days ¹	Delivery of the policy
Limitation, indemnity insurance	4 years ¹	End of the year the claim arose
Limitation, personal insurance	5 years ¹	End of the year the claim arose
Limitation, victim against the motor insurer	5 years ²	The accident

The documents, case by case

Loss	What you need without fail
Road accident	Police incident report or European accident statement (φιλική δήλωση), photos, vehicle registration certificate (άδεια κυκλοφορίας), driving licence, the other vehicle’s details
Vehicle theft	Criminal complaint to the police, all the keys, registration certificate, certificate that the vehicle was not found
Water damage at home	Photos before cleaning, the broken part, a plumber receipt or report, a repair quote or invoice, a list of damaged items
Burglary	Police report, photos of the forced entry, list of values with receipts
Hospital stay	Pre-approval or notice, original invoices, medical report with diagnosis, admission and discharge notes
Liability to a third party	Details of the injured person, description, photos, any police record

Who is who in the process

Within two weeks you may speak to five people. Many claimants do not know who does what, so they ask each for things they cannot give.

Your agent or broker. Sold you the policy. Does not decide the claim, but knows your policy best and can push from the inside. Your first call, and often the most useful ally.

The claims call centre. Opens the file, gives a number, lists the papers needed. Judges nothing. Do not argue with it.

The loss adjuster. A technician. Records what happened and what it costs. Does not decide on cover.

The claims handler. The one who decides. Reads the report, compares it with the terms, approves or refuses. Know their name.

The complaints department. Separate from the claims handler. Go here when a decision seems wrong.

A tip: at each contact, note the date, the name and what was said. Two lines in a notebook. By the third month, that notebook is worth as much as a lawyer.

What to keep, from today

Claims are decided on the file, and the file starts long before the loss.

The policy with all its terms, in electronic form, kept outside the house, not only the page with the price.

A video of the house, room by room, cupboards open. Ten minutes once a year.

Photos of receipts for anything over a few hundred euros, and jewellery certificates.

The service history of the car, which raises the valuation after a total loss.

The claims numbers of your insurer, saved on your phone under a name you find in seconds.

All this takes one Sunday. It is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy, because it costs nothing.

Where to go from here

If the loss showed your policy was not what you thought, start again from car insurance or home insurance.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to report a loss?

Eight days from when you learned of it, under the law on the insurance contract. For a road accident, the motor law gives eight working days. Some policies ask for faster notice for specific covers, for example immediate notice of a theft or a hospital stay. Report it on the first or second day, and do not wait to gather all the papers first.

If I am late, do I lose the payment automatically?

No. A delay does not cancel the right on its own. The insurer must show that the delay really harmed it: that evidence was lost, that it could not check, that the damage grew. But the longer you wait, the easier it becomes for the insurer to argue this.

Must I wait for the loss adjuster before I clean up or repair?

You must limit the damage at once, and the law itself asks this of you. Turn off the water, dry out, cover the broken window, have the car towed. But do not start restoration, and do not throw away the cause of the damage before it is photographed or inspected.

Who pays the loss adjuster?

The insurer that sends the adjuster. The adjuster works with the insurer, but the job is technical, not legal. You have the right to ask for a copy of the report and, if you disagree, to bring a technical report of your own at your own cost.

What is a complete file, and why does it matter?

It means you have handed in every document that was asked for. It matters because the insurer cannot judge the claim without it, and many policies count their payment deadline from it. In motor liability, the law counts the three months for a reasoned offer from the day you gave notice of the claim. Send all papers together and keep proof of delivery.

Will my insurance cost more if I make a claim?

On vehicles it often does, because you can lose steps in the bonus-malus system. On home and health insurance it depends on the insurer and on your history. Before you report a small loss, do the subtraction: if the excess eats almost the whole sum, the claim costs you more than it gives you.

Can I ask for an advance while the case is pending?

You can. Ask in writing for a payment on account for the undisputed part of the loss, with an express reservation for the rest. Do not sign a discharge receipt if you do not accept the sum as final.

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