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Last Post 04/17/2009 12:10 PM by  jdischia
REPORT WRITING - BEST TIME?
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Coach D
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04/09/2009 4:12 PM
     
    Hello,
     
    I would like to request some input from seasoned adjusters regarding the best time to complete reports.
     
    For example, some adjusters will scope houses for the day, return to the hotel, and report write in the evening. Others like to scope, then write report on-site in the claimants house, or in their truck, then discuss the report with the claimant. Others scope, leave to a street around the corner, write report in vehicle, and zoom....off to the next one.
     
    Could some of the seasoned professionals please share what you have found to be the most efficient way to do this task and the pros and cons of each?
     
    Thank you.....JD
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    okclarryd
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    04/09/2009 10:48 PM
    I, for one, like to complete the estimate on-site. I have always felt that my scope of damage should be discussed with the homeowner/policy holder at the time of inspection. And, I always ask them what I missed? I don't get many responses to the question since I most often find damage that the insured is unaware of.

    I do the rest of the file report back at the hacienda with a cold adult beverage at hand and do my best to write up what I scoped that day.

    The other side of the coin is scoping all you can in a day and spend two days writing the estimates and reports. I just think my way is better for the insured as they are being kept abreast of my findings and I don't leave until they are satisfied with my inspection.
    Larry D Hardin
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    HuskerCat
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    04/10/2009 1:00 AM
    Listen up...Larry just told you how.  And I agree.  It's not the report, but the scope & estimate you probably want to do either on site or around the corner under the shade tree.  If you're working the same storm and finding similar damages, the report comes later with the "iced tea".  That report becomes your template, and you can cut & paste to some degree on all the claims you looked at that day.  But don't...repeat don't...get lazy and cut/paste the report to each loss unless it's an Indian teepee village.  There is nothing worse than relying on wholesale cut & paste. Parts are fine, but tailor each loss.  I know of one particular field adjuster who was handling 54 companion losses under my direction as an inside examiner, and he referred to the loss being a result of Hurricane Gustav when it was Ike.  He also failed to edit the loss location.  While all of the estimates were fine & dandy, and the insured was very happy with everything....it could not be overlooked that the reports were incorrect, because it was going to reflect on both of us in the event of an audit.  Fortunately, the reports were coming in about 12 at a time, and I caught it before he got past halfway. Stuff got fixed.  The carrier never knew, the IA field adjuster's boss never knew (even though they were supposed to be reviewing it before it got to me), and we lived happily ever after.  One more thing...be careful when you cut & paste.              
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    Ray Hall
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    04/10/2009 5:27 PM
    Reports are more important for catastrophe adjusters today than they were 20-25 years ago. I remember a monster hail storm in Denver in 1990. All the carrier wanted was a one page 3 -5 line estimate of the damage, no photo, diagram, underwriting info, just bare bones and a bill. The carrier thought they had the answer to this monster as they had the top adjusters. I agree we were a top notch crew.

    I did not work for this vendor again for 4 years as I was in the energy adjusting field. Four years later I ask a bud "why all the paper work and documentation". As expected his answer was; 'you can,t trust storm troopers, they will always screw up a good thing. He was right then and now. Now they grade your spelling.What do they expect for this little fee bill, when you have to get on each roof draw a diagram and write a report?
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    okclarryd
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    04/11/2009 10:17 PM
    Ray, you mentioned a soap box on another thread and I'm gonna git on mine right here.

    The file requirements have been getting more stringent and lengthy for the past 3 or 4 years. Allstate's roof program is a prime example.

    One of my buds was working a one-man storm in Pennsylvania and had been there for 5 months or so. He was fired and sent home because of his reports. He was tripling and quadrupling the staffer's production numbers, and doing a good job and got fired because his reports were too short and he was zipping through the roof process reports.

    I think I'm gonna specialize in submarine water damage and airplane wind damage claims.

    And do my reports on a Big Chief tablet with a green crayola.

    So there!
    Larry D Hardin
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    HuskerCat
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    04/12/2009 12:26 AM
    Gonna need you to use a #2 pencil or a black Bic, Larry.  Those crayolas tend to gum up the rollers in the copy/scanner/fax machines.  Please try to confine your diagrams & so forth to the top  11"  of the Big Chief tablet so we can scan to a regular page as opposed to legal sized.  Also if you could keep a clean tear edge at the top of the tablet, so the pages feed easier, we'd really appreciate ya'.  You know how those durn tablets always start to leave fragged tear-offs on one upper corner after a while, right?
     
    Thank you kindly...
    Admin Support & Asset Maintenance
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    okclarryd
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    04/12/2009 8:43 PM
    And the new file requirements begin.......................
    Larry D Hardin
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    Medulus
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    04/14/2009 9:39 AM
    Also, Larry......
     
    Try not to stick the big fat green crayola up your nose......
     
    And it's ok to stick to organic and chew the paper from your Big Chief, but stay away from the chemicals like paste.
     
    (Advise I learned long ago from a gospel rock singer named Randy Matthews.)
    Steve Ebner CPCU AIC AMIM

    "With great power comes great responsibility." (Stanley Martin Lieber, Amazing Fantasy # 15 August 1962)
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    Medulus
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    04/14/2009 9:50 AM
    And...on a more serious note...

    My favorite way to do reports derives from the law of inertia -- a body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to remain in motion unless acted on by outside forces. So what does that have to do with claim adjusting?

    Once I start inspecting for the day I put in a full day inspecting from early morning to dusk. Then I do nothing else that day. The next day I schedule no appointments, but just plant myself in a seat behind my computer and write reports until about midnight. The next day is back to inspections. This works best for me.

    The particular assignment changes the parameters of this, however. If the assignment is a hailstorm in Texas or Florida, roofs become deadly in the afternoon sun. So, best to do the inspecting in the morning and the report writing in the air conditioned room in the afternoon and into the evening. When working in the hood, best to get one's tail out of the vicinity before the drug dealers drag themselves out of bed about 2PM.

    I also commend Larry's method of writing up the report immediately. The advantage is that there is less to remember and less chance of confusing more than one claim with another.

    The best time is whatever works to make you most efficient. But remember the part about staying off those Texas roofs when the temperature gets up to the triple digits(and drink lots of water).
    Steve Ebner CPCU AIC AMIM

    "With great power comes great responsibility." (Stanley Martin Lieber, Amazing Fantasy # 15 August 1962)
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    okclarryd
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    04/17/2009 10:28 AM
    I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you.

    Had a crayon in my ear....................
    Larry D Hardin
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    jdischia
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    04/17/2009 12:10 PM
    Thank you to everyone for sharing your insight regarding my question.
    Best regards...JD
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