Loss adjusters

[Roadblock]

Hi all,
Has anyone out there dealt with Loss adjuster/surveyors appointed by their insurer? When it comes to house claims I know that adjusters try to get a fair outcome for all parties but I would appreciate views on whether the same applies for boating incidents where a claim runs into tens of thousands. Am I on for a battle or is the system fair?
Any input welcome!
Roadblock

 

[Hooligan]

Hi all,
Has anyone out there dealt with Loss adjuster/surveyors appointed by their insurer? When it comes to house claims I know that adjusters try to get a fair outcome for all parties but I would appreciate views on whether the same applies for boating incidents where a claim runs into tens of thousands. Am I on for a battle or is the system fair?
Any input welcome!
Roadblock

I had a recent experience with a loss adjuster over quite a. large claim. I found him to be absolutely fair to both parties but I would give the following advice. loss adjusters are people just like the rest of us. They deal largely as was explained to me with people who are trying to rip off the insurer one way or the other. So if you make an effort to understand what he or she is looking at, what they want and also show that you are honest and a person who cares about what is happening, then this will help him/her and in my view by doing this you therefore help yourself. What this means is that you should make every effort to meet and sit down with the LA and take the time to get what they need. In my case the outcome was very fair and I can only say positive things about the LA, the insurer and the broker.

 

[Roadblock]

I had a recent experience with a loss adjuster over quite a. large claim. I found him to be absolutely fair to both parties but I would give the following advice. loss adjusters are people just like the rest of us. They deal largely as was explained to me with people who are trying to rip off the insurer one way or the other. So if you make an effort to understand what he or she is looking at, what they want and also show that you are honest and a person who cares about what is happening, then this will help him/her and in my view by doing this you therefore help yourself. What this means is that you should make every effort to meet and sit down with the LA and take the time to get what they need. In my case the outcome was very fair and I can only say positive things about the LA, the insurer and the broker.

Thanks, that's very encouraging and I really do understand how important it is to try to build an open, honest rapport with people. I am meeting the LA on board with my chosen repairer who has looked after my boat since I bought it, luckily it means that we have full records of maintenance etc along with logs. Hopefully all will be well. Input much appreciated.

 

[Momac]

A loss adjuster can never be truly impartial as his employer is paid by insurers.
However the same approach applies regardless of the size of the claim.

 

[jrudge]

The loss adjuster will work for the insurers.

My father in the past had some large claims and when the insurer appointed an adjuster my father did the same ( for a percentage)

I would see what he has to say and if you are not happy with the outcome consider appointing your own adjuster to defend your corner.

In my limited experience of marine claims I have had 2 claims agreed immediately at the full cost of repair so you may need to do nothing. Mine were £5 and £3k so not massive but they were agreed including inspections in one case within hours

 

[Rocksteadee]

I had a claim a few years ago for a flooding, 3.5k which was the total of all the receipts for replacement items. I think this level was below the threshold for a loss adjuster to be appointed.
They initially stopped my excess of 350 until I pointed out that this was for equipment only with no Labour as I did all the work myself, if I had used marine engineers the bill would easily have been twice that.
A week later they sent a cheque for the full amount.
Not all insurers are bad

 

[Roadblock]

The loss adjuster will work for the insurers.

My father in the past had some large claims and when the insurer appointed an adjuster my father did the same ( for a percentage)

I would see what he has to say and if you are not happy with the outcome consider appointing your own adjuster to defend your corner.

In my limited experience of marine claims I have had 2 claims agreed immediately at the full cost of repair so you may need to do nothing. Mine were £5 and £3k so not massive but they were agreed including inspections in one case within hours

Useful input, thanks Jrudge. I will see how things go and decide whether I need to appoint my own LA

 

[Roadblock]

A loss adjuster can never be truly impartial as his employer is paid by insurers.
However the same approach applies regardless of the size of the claim.

Exactly my concern but it appears others have had reasonable experiences, if worst comes to worst I will follow Jrudges advice and appoint my own LA to act on my behalf but I am hopeful, let's see how the first meeting goes. I will update the forum.

 

[rubberduck]

A girl that works for me had problems over a property claim, subsidence & a whole lot more, insurers were shafting her. I advised her to appoint her own loss adjuster who sorted it all out & recovered his costs from insurers.
So go with the insurers but if they push their luck, get someone in.

 

[volvopaul]

Hi all,
Has anyone out there dealt with Loss adjuster/surveyors appointed by their insurer? When it comes to house claims I know that adjusters try to get a fair outcome for all parties but I would appreciate views on whether the same applies for boating incidents where a claim runs into tens of thousands. Am I on for a battle or is the system fair?
Any input welcome!
Roadblock

The LA will be fair he has to be down to FSA ruling .
What you won’t get is betterment , you may also find that some insurers will source second hand parts and in some cases on older boats direct you to a company in Dover for Volvopenta parts , what you haven’t said is what the claim is so I cannot help you any further .

 

[Elessar]

Exactly my concern but it appears others have had reasonable experiences, if worst comes to worst I will follow Jrudges advice and appoint my own LA to act on my behalf but I am hopeful, let's see how the first meeting goes. I will update the forum.

I think you are right to keep your powder dry for now. As soon as you have a professional acting for you it gets adversarial.
My experiences of boat claims (only 2, max £7k so small) have been that the insurance co have been communicative, fair and helpful.

I had an experience of a major claim in a professional capacity when I had a total loss of a building in a fire. Loss assessors were in my office telling me how i could get one over the insurers before the fire was out, literally, all in their expensive shoes and high end cars, but I chose not to use one.
It was complicated and again the insurance company appointed representative went beyond the call of duty to help. I think it helped that I showed good intent to mitigate costs in an area where I had considerable headroom in the insured value, but ultimately they paid the full value in an area where I was arguably under insured. They just asked me to revalue some buildings and put the premiums up prorata going forward - ie pay what I should have been in the first place. They really couldn't have been fairer and I think if I'd had someone on my side going guns blazing I could have been worse off.

I think we are all tarred by the experience we receive from car insurers which is a high volume, low margin, transactional market. And by reading about the couple of examples on here where the boat insurers have behaved badly (and were subsequently given a bloody nose by a popular forumite)

So see how it goes, you may be pleasantly surprised, but if they are not playing fair then get help from a loss assessor. (not a loss adjuster - they work for the insurance co, a loss assessor works for you)

 

[jrudge]

I also believe that fraud etc is more widespread in other sectors ( home etc) and the adjuster is also trying to root that out.

I am sure marine fraud exists, but in general what has happened is ( reasonably ) obvious - hit something etc and the number of people in the locality who can repair it relatively limited. It is also a relatively small world where many know each other. None of this of course guarantees anything, but I do believe it helps

 

[Roadblock]

The LA will be fair he has to be down to FSA ruling .
What you won’t get is betterment , you may also find that some insurers will source second hand parts and in some cases on older boats direct you to a company in Dover for Volvopenta parts , what you haven’t said is what the claim is so I cannot help you any further .

Interesting. On the claim that my repairer has submitted we have adjusted for areas that are obvious betterment. What I wasn't aware of was the use of reconditioned or second hand parts from elsewhere, I would much rather have my own stuff reconditioned as I know it has been looked after.

 

[Roadblock]

Thanks for the input, note taken on Loss assessor. I have been lucky enough never to have had a boat claim, my one experience with a property claim was very good. Point taken about car insurance, it does taint our views

 

[Roadblock]

Funnily enough my repairer knows the LA. As you say boating is a small tight knit world.

 

[Richard10002]

Hi all,
Has anyone out there dealt with Loss adjuster/surveyors appointed by their insurer? When it comes to house claims I know that adjusters try to get a fair outcome for all parties but I would appreciate views on whether the same applies for boating incidents where a claim runs into tens of thousands. Am I on for a battle or is the system fair?
Any input welcome!
Roadblock

If you have a claim for tens of thousands, it might/would be a good idea to employ a loss assessor to act on your behalf. I have done it in the past, for a claim for a bakery oven. His fee was money well spent.

Not recommending this lot, but may give an idea of what they do:

https://www.harrisbalcombe.com/loss-adjusters-vs-loss-assessors-whats-the-difference/

 

[ashtead]

This tends to depend on value of claim . There are a number of accessors out there and harris balcombe as mentioned are well known in commercial coverage disputes.

f you placed the cover via a broker then they might also help in any minor adjustments of differences of opinion - insurers tend to wish to retain good relations with larger brokers so sometimes conveying any expressions of disatisfaction via your broker sometimes produced results as it might influence the broker as to whether it wishes to retain a particular insurer on the panel .