Industrial Complex Insurance Claims
A factory insurance claim can be one of the most difficult to properly file. This is particularly true if you are running a business on the property and not just serving as a landlord. You will need, more than likely, a highly experienced public adjuster in order to gather and utilize all of the resources that your policy has set aside for just such an occurrence.
The Day-to-Day Operations of Your Complex
If your plant has suffered extensive damage, you must first consider your customers and any contracts that may be difficult to fulfill in light of your loss. Although you may have a commercial insurance policy that provides coverage for your building and equipment, the fact remains that you are losing money every minute that your business is not in operation. Thankfully, most commercial and business owners’ policies have coverage for lost income (called Business Income), and most importantly, there are monies that will allow you to set up operations elsewhere (called Extra Expense). Inquire about these coverages and what, if any, limitations there may be to accessing these benefits.
As you might expect, most of your time necessarily should be spent resuming your day-to-day operations. Tapping into your Extra Expense coverage will allow you to meet both your payroll and contractual obligations to your customers. Commit yourself to the right industrial complex adjustment claims partner to handle all of the red tape that your insurance company is sure to put you through (but is counterproductive to meeting your ongoing business responsibilities).
Advice for Managing Your Commercial Insurance Claim
First of all, keep all communication with your adjuster in writing. That will send the message that you are documenting your claim and paying attention to the details. This also means that after having a conversation with your adjuster, send him/her an email summarizing your understanding of what was discussed and agreed upon in the course of your discussion. Second, request in writing a complete copy of your policy with all forms and endorsements. Your commercial policy is like the Bible in that it contains all of the promises that carrier is committed to providing you should you suffer a catastrophic loss to your business. We are often given what the property owner believes to be a complete copy of their policy only to discover that it is missing many forms and endorsements and falls well short of a whole policy. The benefits to which you are actually entitled can only be determined by having your complete policy available. There’s no use speculating if you don’t have to. And finally, do not totally rely on the insurance company’s adjuster to inform you of all the benefits you are due; you need someone who works on the policyholder’s side of the claim to read it for you and tell you how it applies to your loss. After all, the carrier’s representative has a different point-of-view on a large loss than a public adjuster who works exclusively for the property owner.
A public adjuster experienced in large commercial losses should be able to analyze your insurance policy in order to identify the beneficial coverages built into my commercial policies. A good one will also be able to inform you of any “soft spots” in your policy so that you can potentially move some of your damaged property to other areas within your policy that provide sufficient limits of coverage. A veteran public adjuster will know how to properly package your claim so that you maximize your final settlement.
Negotiating with Your Insurance Company
You may be entitled to any number of benefits within your insurance policy. Part of negotiating with your insurance company is prioritizing these features in order to facilitate the return of your company to normal productivity. The other part is getting the insurance company to start cutting you some checks immediately. Cash is the oxygen that keeps a business from having a near-death experience after a catastrophe strikes. A seasoned public adjuster can immediately begin to negotiate with your insurance company to acquire necessary funds you need to begin to employ these assets in your business and maintain operations.
Having your own skilled claims adjuster will help you organize your claim in such a way that if you needed to consider legal action you would have in your possession a well-documented file to give to your attorney.