What steps do you need to take if you need to incur costs covered by insurance?

Many forms of insurance cover costs incurred in an incident (eg repairing physical damage and/or fees for external advisers). It is usual for insurance policies to provide that, before any costs covered by the insurance are incurred, the insurer’s consent must be obtained. Always check the relevant insurance policies to confirm whether they contain such provisions.

It may sometimes be impractical to obtain the insurer’s consent before incurring costs. In these circumstances, the only option may be to incur costs and risk the insurer refusing to cover them. Some policies do, however, permit insureds to incur "emergency costs" up to a specified limit without obtaining any prior consent. Check carefully for any such provisions.

It may be useful to keep a record of costs incurred during the incident. This can be useful when claiming back costs later on, as well as supporting damages calculations in any subsequent litigation.