Business Loss
UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS INSURANCE CLAIMS
If your business has been interrupted by a disaster, the burden of analyzing the damage and proving your claim to the insurance carrier may ultimately affect the long-term ability of the business to fully recover.
Whether you suffer an insured loss to a shopping center, manufacturing facility, hospital, or any other commercial property, business owners and their respective risk managers need to understand that each insurance claim is unique and fact specific. The insured also needs to have an appreciation for how the claim will need to be presented to the insurance company in order for the business to recover in a timely manner. This is where a public adjusters understanding of the claims process can be of great assistance.
As the owner of a business, your ultimate goal should be to avoid the time consuming tasks required from these sometimes complicated claims so you can tend to your normal daily operations. Accordingly, it would not be wise for a business professional, who is educated in any field other than property insurance, to attempt to learn the technicalities and procedures of how to prove a business interruption or property claim. Because the burden of proving such damages ultimately falls on the insured business owner, it will undoubtedly be in that person’s best interest to retain a professional public adjusting firm who has extensive knowledge and experience in dealing in that area and who can ultimately prove your fact specific claim.
Additional challenges a business owner may be faced with are the damages to the building structure or facility. In order for an insurance carrier to understand what property belongs to whom, the grueling task of separating out the furniture, fixtures, improvements, machinery, and equipment will need to be calculated with the utmost precision.