I’ve been in the industry for over 30 years. The decline in fiduciary responsibility on all sides over the last five years has exceeded the previous twenty-five three fold. The loss of relationship within the claims process, combined with the loss of authority of those who have the knowledge and experience to properly adjust has contributed to the currrent ping pong effect of claims handling. Contractors should be able to specifically explain why any line item is required, related, fair and reasonable. Adjusters should be able to specifically explain why any line item is not required, not related, is not fair, or is not reasonable. It really should be that simple, but unfortunately it is not. There are too many layers, players and agendas. I believe the current state of the industry can be traced back to a combination of turning contractors into adjusters by requiring scopes to be broken down to line items, those line items broken down only to then break those down even more. It takes time which translates to cost for each layer it is broken down. The adjuster isn’t concerned with the administrative overload the claim process causes the contractor. The contractor can’t begin to understand the adjusters administrative overload.
Being a staff adjuster and now being a business owner advocating for policyholders has always had my wheels turning about what it takes to run a truly remarkable insurance company.
In my opinnion it all starts with empowering your employees, especially the adjusters. Highly trained insurance adjusters with real scientific knowledge of how to properly adjust a claim while at the same time giving excellent customer service is now a thing of the past in what I am seeing.
I am not saying all staff adjusters are like this but the trend seems to be going toward adjusters not having the training and/or the time needed to properly adjust a large loss property claim while exceeding expectations of the policyholder.
As a staff adjuster I refused to cut our customers off because I had too many claims and not enough time to properly adjust them. That led me to where I am today. Now our firm prides itself in taking the time to properly adjust and negotiate fair settlements while maintaining excellence in customer service. We’ve been successful with this model for many years now. Maybe insurance companies can learn something from their past employees. Let’s hope so. Policy holders deserve better. Great article to read if you are in the insurance arena.
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I’ve been in the industry for over 30 years. The decline in fiduciary responsibility on all sides over the last five years has exceeded the previous twenty-five three fold. The loss of relationship within the claims process, combined with the loss of authority of those who have the knowledge and experience to properly adjust has contributed to the currrent ping pong effect of claims handling. Contractors should be able to specifically explain why any line item is required, related, fair and reasonable. Adjusters should be able to specifically explain why any line item is not required, not related, is not fair, or is not reasonable. It really should be that simple, but unfortunately it is not. There are too many layers, players and agendas. I believe the current state of the industry can be traced back to a combination of turning contractors into adjusters by requiring scopes to be broken down to line items, those line items broken down only to then break those down even more. It takes time which translates to cost for each layer it is broken down. The adjuster isn’t concerned with the administrative overload the claim process causes the contractor. The contractor can’t begin to understand the adjusters administrative overload.