How to Handle a Business Insurance Claim for Your Company
Nearly 3 out of 4 businesses experience an insurable event at least once a year. If your company is experiencing a loss due to liability, crime, an accident, or damage, you must file a business insurance claim.
Otherwise, you will struggle to recover any loss of funds. Insurance for your business is essential because it protects your firm against risks. Mainly related to commercial property, general liability, commercial auto insurance, or workers’ compensation.
Knowing the best way to file a business insurance claim will ensure that you can have your operations up and running back to normal in no time. You can recover all the money faster if you follow the right processes.
Here are the steps to handling an insurance claim and why an insurance agency can be your most enormous support.
Handling Your Business Insurance Claim
A business insurance claim is a crucial formal notification. This gets sent to the insurance company you work with to inform them about any damages you have suffered.
Then you can request and receive compensation for your financial losses, mainly if your insurance policy covers them. You should be covered for particular risks with a decent small business insurance policy.
If your losses are related to the risks covered in the policy, you can expect a successful insurance claim. After submitting your claim, your insurance agency should investigate the information.
Then they can decide whether to approve your claim or not. When your claim is approved, you should be issued a payment.
This payment will go towards you or the other party affected by your claim. Therefore, small businesses must know how to file an insurance claim correctly.
Plan Ahead
You should never file a business insurance claim without an effective plan and strategy. Even if you get away without needing to use your plan, and everything can go smoothly, it is still better to be prepared to file a claim accurately and quickly.
So, you should be thoroughly informed beforehand of what you need for your claim. This way, you will be ready to strengthen your claim with any photos or videos of the damage. It always helps to install surveillance equipment.
Then you can have video evidence of any vandalism or theft in your company. You must also obtain standard reporting forms from your insurance agency. This way, you can have your staff on hand to rapidly access when you need to file your claim.
Gather Evidence
If your firm has experienced an accident or catastrophe that warrants an insurance claim, you must collect enough evidence to pass it to your insurance agency.
This is where you must carefully take photos after a disaster or accident. You also need to make a detailed list of all the individuals who were there to witness the event.
They will be called to give their testimony. So, you should get those people to write down everything they witnessed on site.
This must be done when people’s memory is still fresh. Then you can effectively take inventory of anything that is missing or damaged to present to your insurance company.
File Police Report
If a crime has occurred anywhere near your business, you must call the local police department to file a police report. This will be important if you file an insurance claim related to theft or an accident.
Insurance companies will not budge unless they receive a police report. Even if you feel that a police report would not help much, you should still get the document to add to your claim.
The more information you present to your insurance agency, the better your claim can be processed.
Contact Insurance Agent
When anything happens in your business, you must contact your insurance broker or agent. Tell them about the situation, especially if you are considering filing a claim.
Your insurance agent can skillfully explain the entire claims process. This is an excellent opportunity to ask questions about the incident you want to report.
Having an insurance broker can help you save a lot of time and effort. They have all the knowledge and can help you fill out your claim forms to submit.
Meet Insurance Adjuster
After filing your business insurance claim, you should be assigned to work with an insurance adjuster. This can take place within a few quick days of submitting your application.
Your insurance adjuster will thoroughly investigate your claim. Determining how much liability rests with your insurance provider is their job. The adjuster will most likely ask for a proof of loss form.
This is where you must add photos, videos, and other supporting evidence that can prove your losses to convince your insurer to loosen their pockets.
Get Professional Assessments
If your business has suffered damage, you must hire professionals for repairs. This is where your insurance company will need to see that you have proactively sought out estimates and quotes.
If a fire or a storm has damaged your company’s building, you should call the contractor to assess the damage. If you are the building owner, you could be liable to pay their estimated repair costs.
It helps to receive at least two repair estimates. For example, if you have a work vehicle that has been wrecked in an accident, you should get a reputable mechanic to provide an estimated repair quote.
Even though you must pay for their services, you can still get compensation if you attach this information to your claim.
Do Business Insurance Claims Take Long?
The time it takes for your insurance agency to pay out the claim depends on how complex your case is. The timing also depends on whether there are any disputes over the claim the insurer must consider.
You should also check the state laws for your business location. This is because most states set mandated timelines.
These outline how long an insurance company can take to pay a claim. For instance, an insurer may have to pay out the claim within 30 days of your settlement date.
Get Insurance Support Today
Now that you know the best way to handle a business insurance claim, it is time to get the legal advice you deserve.
Without the right support, you risk losing compensation or delaying your insurance claim process. Contact us today, and we can help maximize the success of your claim.
