What Is A Claim To Insurance Companies?

       

I am working with Mitchell on a claim, and his claim and my post yesterday got me thinking about claims from the insurance company’s perspective. By way of some background, in the claim that Mitchell is working on the supervising adjuster is being very aggressive and demanding to the point of being insulting and demeaning to both him and the insured. Needless to say it’s gotten off to a bad start and letters have been flying back and forth. But still it got me to thinking about what a claim is to an insurance company.

Now a lot of you may be thinking that a claim is an expense and you’d be right, but I think it’s much more than the money that’s going to be paid out. It gets back to understanding why people buy insurance in the first place. Yes, I know you have to buy insurance if you own a car or mortgage a house, but why purchase from one company as opposed to another? Why do folks say I’ve got State Farm Insurance or Allstate Insurance as opposed to just saying I’ve got homeowner’s insurance or auto insurance? I think it’s because there is a perceived value in the company who sold them the policy and a hope that value will be expressed at the time the claim is made. So when I think of claims, I am thinking of opportunity.

A claim is an opportunity from the company’s vantage point to deliver upon that perceived value. To deliver value in the adjustment, to deliver value in the evaluation of damages, to deliver value in the payment of the claim, to deliver value in the relationship that is established between the parties. However, Mitchell’s experience seems to indicate that the insurance company doesn’t look at a claim as a way to deliver value. They are just pissed off at having to pay. In reality what occurred is that the insured is being perceived by the company as trying to get something they don’t deserve.

And that mindset is a wasted opportunity to deliver on that perceived value.

Imagine how different the relationship between insurance company and insured would be if the insurance company fostered and nurtured the concept that a claim is an opportunity to deliver value in the adjustment process. Imagine if the adjuster were more concerned with building a relationship instead of letting the policyholder know what wasn’t covered and what the insurance company couldn’t do. Imagine if they brought to the table solutions rather than objections. I think the bottom line would actually improve. Sure indemnity might increase slightly, but legal and experts expense would certainly drop.

“Would you like a latte with that drywall?”

Bill