Business Insurance - Tips and Tricks for Making Claims

When it comes to business insurance, there are two processes that every business owner must trod carefully. Those are applying for the insurance and claiming the insurance. This article however will deal with the latter concern and teach business owners how to make fool-proof business insurance claims.

Read the Policy Carefully

Prior to actually filing a business insurance claim, the policyholder must first determine exactly what is included in their claim. This would guide them in creating a report to be presented to the insurance company. More importantly however, thoroughly reading the policy prior to any claims would let an individual know about the preferred process of their insurance provider. For example, the provider might require that the claim be filed within a specific period of time. If the company is not aware of this and proceeds to take care of the mess before filing for claim, that time period may have lapsed. Simply put, study the policy carefully to avoid mistakes that may make the claim invalid or decreased.

File a Police Report

In cases of suspected arson, robbery or any other problems that did not naturally occur, the business must file a police report. This would make this more official and let the insurance company know that the event was really unexpected and damaging to the business.

Call the Insurance Company

Inform the insurance company of what happened and give them a heads up about any claim to be made. They should also be sending one of their people to the area to help assess the damage and make an estimate of what will be paid for.

Call an Independent Professional

Of course, a business should not just rely on the professional assessment made by the insurer. If possible, they should also hire one of their own to ensure that everything the insurance company stated is true. There's a chance that the insurance company will miss some vital factor and vice versa. This way, two professionals will search and assess through the area and their combined reports will provide a more accurate result.

Create a Comprehensive Report

After reading the policy and finding out what items are included in the coverage, it's time to make a hard copy of the losses. Ideally, companies should list down everything they see as a loss before trying to separate those covered by the insurance from those that are not. This would make it easier and faster to do not to mention provide them with a list of what needs replacement using business funds. The report should include the price of the items, preferably with backup in the form of receipts. If this is not possible then an estimated depreciated value of the item should be listed down.

Provide Pictures if Necessary

If the loss occurred from a fire or perhaps a robbery, taking pictures of the area would be excellent documentation. A single image will be able to show the insurance providers about the extent of damage that happened in the business. Of course, there are some cases when this is not possible and other avenues must be explored in order to provide proof.

Make sure to double check all the necessary papers when making a business insurance claim. Coordinate with the insurance representative to ensure that everything necessary has been submitted and that they will no longer need additional information from the business. This is necessary because after a tragedy, the business's main goal is to get back into their normal operations to avoid further losses. If the insurance claim has already been passed and finalized, then the company can start to rebuild whatever is destroyed faster.