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Great Post Mark. I will go on to say that I was apointed to go to property school by my company after working as a auto/casualty adjuster for two years. This was over 50 years ago and large brokers and local recording agents were responsible for my promotion.

In the last 20 or so years I have noticed the trend to leave the producers(selling agents) out of the loop. This is my opine of the largest personal lines writers doing business in the good old USA. Some are captive agents or direct writers and others are big I agents  listed in order.

Direct writers USAA No1 on custermer service and feedback between adjuster and USAA claims supervisiors. 2. Armed Forces Ins. Co. 3. Geico

Captive Agents. No 1. State Farm, 2.Liberty Mutual.3.Nationwide.4.Allstate 5. Farmers.

Big I Agents. All good and better than captive but AMICA is at the top.

International Brokers. All very good. All have a person who is assigned to track the claim/loss until conclusion. Very few  cases of adjusters having files pulled, but many cases of 2 strikes and you are out.

I have always loved the International brokers comments in London. " the right course for the right horse" and "we have the utmost faith in our appointed adjuster"

How many catastrophe venders have ever taken up for one of their top adjusters. How many of you have heard the 7AM quote. "you are only as good as your last storm! ????  Why dont we have a good discussion about this great topic that Marc brought up. And have many of you top adjusters have emailed your  70% and $10.00 per file; this is the year get a raise before you go.

Good article, Mark!

While I totally agree that timely contact with the insured is essential, I think that the expectations of contact within 24 hours of filing the claim is completely unrealistic.  The vendor may not even have the claim within that time, much less the adjuster.  If the people who are taking the initial claim over the phone would give a realistic time frame for the insured to be contacted, there would be much less frustration on the part of the insured, if expecting a call within 24 hours of filing the claim, and it takes 48-96 hrs for the adjuster to even get the loss notice.  Within 24 hours from receipt of claim is standard, but certainly not 24 hours from filing.  Once it leaves the hands of the call center, it then works its way to the vendor, is input into their system, then assigned to an adjuster all which takes time. 

It seems to me that more and more the adjusters are expected to jump through unrealistic hoops in order to "keep the insured satisfied", therefore justifying the insurance premium dollar,  when all it would take is correctly preparing the insured upon initial contact regarding the time line when they file their claim.  I believe if the insured was properly prepared from the onset of the claim process it would be much easier all down the line.  Just my humble opinion!

The synergy that is required amongst the players in the claims resolution process has been abandoned in favor of the metrics so relied upon by carriers to justify their claims dollars spending. Rather than focusing on the ultimate end game which is the delivery of a contractual obligation called indemnity, there is more focus on shortchanging the partners in the equation. The vendors are squeezed into providing services at bargain basement prices, they in turn rely upon adjusters who are expected to jump thru hoops ,keep everybody informed and the insured satisfied for a smaller and smaller return. If the game was played fairly then reducing indemnity dollars and expenses would be an obvious result. Happy people take the interests of their partners to heart, when a sense of belonging and appreciation is evident everyone benefits. There's no shortcuts taken, everyone pays attention to detail and everyone wins. To rely on oppressed,ill paid, underappreciated folks to deliver your end product doesn't seem to make sense to me. Rather than spending millions on ad campaigns to negate bad publicity restore integrity, fair play and honesty to the claims paradigm.

Contact all insureds within the first 24 hours of assignment. This is being done  by a few of the largest venders. They call thier regular top cat. adjusters down load 30 files into their lap top by zip code and the appointments are set before before they crank up old lizzy.

After they get to the storm site and turn in the first 10, they get 20 more until all the losses are inspected. Most of the real vendors know what is needed and how to deliver it.

David if you got $10.00 per file in Katrina, you should do much better in 2008, like $20.00 per file. I think I will ask for $20.00 per file  The NFIP flood schedule plus 50% on wind, any software I want to use for my helpers and all the ice water I can drink, a file checker that has a PPIF on his puter that I can give to Brian.

Justin, that was a good write and you are correct. Most agents I find know very little about coverages and they need to know this. It seems all they are interested in is the premium dollar. I recently worked a claim for an insurance agent up in northern Arkansas who wanted to know when her business interruption coverage would start paying her. I told her she had not requested BI on her policy, therefore, no payments or consideration would be made for loss of income. She threw an absulute fit and called the claims manager of the company I represented and was told the same thing. The physical damage claim went south after that because she failed to understand the policy. .

Agents in the know can be our allies and friends, but those who want coverages extended that are not there, can be our worst nightmare. I find that those agents who were involved in claim adjusting prior to getting into an agency relationship are the easiest to work with and provide their clients with the most accurate protection.

Tom I look at your story and  I  find  fault on the incompetant agent, but greator fault  on the  license bureau in the state of Arkansas and Texas and many other states who issue the license the incomptant agents in insurance, real estate, insurance adjusters and home inspectors and the vendors who put these people out in the unsuspecting world.

Justin & Tom, As an ex agent (12 years), I agree that most agents don't have as much knowledge about coverage as they should. It is not required, it is not taught, and basically was not expected from us. On the other side of the coin, there are many adjusters lacking in the customer service experience or skills that being an agent demands. I have learned much more about coverage as an adjuster than I ever needed as an agent.  I have tried to used my agency experience to be a better adjuster. I always found that as an agent, adjusters seemed to not like dealing with us, almost as if we were opposing forces. Now as an adjuster I make it a point to deal with the agents when deployed to a storm, and try to bridge the gap a little.

The biggest difference between the agents world and the adjusters world is an agent tries to always say yes to the customer, try to design a policy package that fits the customers request,  unfortunatley an adjusters job too often is to say no.

While deployed, I always made a point to stop by the area agents offices, and let them know me, and let them know they can call me if they have a problem that needed special attention. I recieved a few thumbs up calls to my team leaders because of that simple gesture, and developed a good first impression so if a problem came up, they were more likely to call and discuss rather than just call and cuss.

And always remember, you deal with this customer once, the agent deals with them for years, often on a monthly basis. Our paycheck is not effected by whether the customer renews their policy or not, but the agents paycheck depends on it.  After all we are all on the same team.

Just a Humble Rant

JWG

There is an interesting article in the International Risk Managers Institute news letter for May of this year. The writer is a 40 year vet who has retired and able to speak his piece. One of the largest things he spoke about was the lack of training in all phases of the business. He mentions the take a course and in three days you "be an adjuster, agent, etc. even if you cannot spell the words."

Jim is correct about laying some of the blame on the states for not mandating training even to get the license. Does anyone remember Leonard's Training Schools in Texas. Back in the 70's and early 80's Texas mandated around 240 hours of classroom training to get you all lines license. Property was 80 hours alone. This didn't take into account the other lines. The same thing went for the agents. They had to go to class before able to take the class. Many of the students were company hires that were sent there by their employers. Made for a better class of adjusters. But the Great State dropped those requirements.

Perhaps this should come back. Those that want to be in this business would take the hours. Those that think it is too much time to waste   would not attempt to do it. We need to cull out and get those that want to be in it, in it and those who only think of quick money get them out.

When I started, my supervisor introduced me to an agent that adjusters went to for coveraga interpretaion. He was smart and made it a point to make sure he knew coverage. He did not want to lose a client because he failed to advise or write coverage. Very successful and his headaches were no where near what the sell them somthing agents faced.

I still think the vendors and carriers have greater liability exposure than the 3 day wonders. Its a known fact Texas will license any one who has the fee for the license. After Katrina when policyholders with only a slab left were told, by the adjusters who were told by the vendors who were told by the carriers, who hired any engineer , to write a boiler plate report, that was modified as to cause in some cases. This was the poorest thought out plan of all time. All insurance companies know  "wave wash" losses are a nightmare and have been working out compromise settlements for over 80 years as the people who taught me "wave wash" over 50 years ago had 30 years experience.

I am of the opine if the first person who inspects a" slab" does not send the photo,s to a person who has experience in wave wash claims, within 24 hours.... expensive problems will follow, and the carrier and vendor will also have problems. Carriers must use a triage system on these claims.

Ever person in the US subject to flooding should have flood insurance, but only at 20% do. NFIP should not write new structures on the sea coast of the USA. This should be in the private sector were a proper risk/cost factor can be established and the resulting damage paid for *wave wash" * a combination of both as a result of weather. hurricane, tsumani, noreaster.

Great feedback from all of you.  For those of you who have worked with me and my clients - you know that I work real hard to be a mediator between you and the client.  It appears from the feedback I see here that some of you have had some rough times dealing with agents that don't know what they are doing.  Let me assure all of you adjusters out there - you won't find that problem with me and our Dallas office.  As a licensed adjuster myself I am very well aware of how adjusters can get caught up in the middle of things.  My message in general was to put an emphasis on customer servicing....just as you guys have had bad experiences with agents and vendors - I have had bad experiences with adjusters.  I can also assure those of you who feel the burden of having the client properly insured as being ours - you are correct - as the Professional Standards Manager for our branch - it is my job to see that we have advised the client of all exposures and offered them all they need to be covered.  It is a bad thing for a client to have a claim and not be covered.......but do know one thing - our files will indicate clearly whether that client rejected coverage or not.  I love adjusters - some are good friends of mine in the business world.  I just hope the message was clear - without the client - none of us have a job......that is the reality of the situation we need to contend with.....as an agent - it isn't just about who can get the best pricing - the client wants to feel special whether they pay $1.00 or $1,000,000 for their coverage.  Remember the client is a business person who has other business friends........Love you guys........

Rose Kuba - Area Vice President - Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, Inc. - Dallas, Texas

Great reply Rose.Would love to work with you sometime.