| Author |
Message |
Chuck Deaton
Member
Username: Chuckdeaton
Post Number: 28
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 06, 2002 - 11:20 pm: | |
IMHO John and Jim are correct. The number of people who actually have hands on experience is dwindling. I just concluded a tornado claim with a man who built his own house. Built it with a hand saw and a hammer. None of the young adjusters coming into this business have ever built a dog house much less a dwelling or knows that a there are crosscut saws and rip saws, and air dryed 4 quarter lumber and dimension lumber. This is not to say that the newbies are not smart or educated, because they are, but the vast majority just have not had the life experience that is necessary to handle large complex claims.
As this trend continues the experienced, educated properly equipped older adjuster becomes more and more valuable. |
mark salmon
Registered User
Username: Olderthendirt
Post Number: 189
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Thursday, June 06, 2002 - 11:13 am: | |
an ex is a has been and a spurt is a drip under pressure |
D Wong Whey
Registered User
Username: Dwongwhey
Post Number: 143
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 06, 2002 - 10:54 am: | |
"An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes
which can be made, in a narrow field."
Niels Bohr (1885-1962); Danish physicist
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alan jackson (Ajackson)
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - 8:06 am: | |
Gentleman,
Very well said. The above is the reason I went to Law School. You can make money fixing the rookies mistakes, ie defense work or take them down to the court house and give them a spanking. Lot's of money either way. |
johnp
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - 10:07 pm: | |
I for one am putting my suntan lotion on and "basking" in the words of Jim's posted article. I continue to be called on to be an "Expert" witness on claims stemming back to Hurricane "H". Why? "Because they ain't churnin' out adjusters like they used to".
My advice to CADO surfers that want to get serious about this business - get experience and get accredidations. Be a memeber of CADO. Be a member of NACA. Be a member of RPA or LEA. And most of all, GET INVOLVED.
Yes it is true that many insurance companies don't invest the training dollars they should in their claims staff. This, IMHO, is a mistake. For example, send a new adjuster to Vale National for two weeks (at a cost of a few thousand dollars) and that same adjuster will save many times that in overpayments on claims. Of course, no company tracks "dollars saved" because it is a subjective figure, but any good adjuster knows that he or she saves their companies many times their salaries every year - and most go totally unrewarded because the average claim manager says "they are just doing their jobs...".
But as Bob Dylan said many years ago "These times they are a changing..."
Now that companies are beginning to store their claim settlement and estimate information electronically, we will soon be able to single-out the claim "superstars" and compare final settlement data with contractor estimate data and finally see how many dollars a good adjuster can save a carrier.
I look forward to the day that claims professionals are honored for their worth to the organization. For years agents have had their day in the sun (premiums (i.e. "monies in") are easy to track). Now it is time to shine some light on the adjusters that work in the "trenches" and REALLY add to the bottom line of a claims department's fiscal report (adjusters "stop the bleeding").
That's all for now. I have to get back and examine some Houston Flood Files!
Thanks for listening...Adjust til ya bust!
John Postava, R.P.A. |
Jim Lakes
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - 2:56 pm: | |
Attached is an article that I ran across while surfing the web. I felt all may want to bask in these words.
Conning & Co. Report Says Shortage of Claims Professionals a Growing Crisis for Industry
According to a new Conning & Company study, while the overall U.S. job market has cooled considerably over the last year, the demand for qualified insurance claims professionals has never been higher. In fact, the death of experienced claims professionals could reach crisis levels for the industry unless insurers do more to attract and develop the future claims leaders of their organizations.
According to Conning's most recent study, "Property-Casualty Claims Management: Adjusting to New Realities," during much of the '90s, many insurers sought profitability by bringing in premiums to invest in the surging capital markets, not through efficiencies in their core services. Thus, insurers considered their claims departments an operational expense that took a backseat, in terms of attention, to marketing, sales and asset management.
However, this attitude has recently changed as a weaker investment market has forced insurers to re-focus their attention on their core operations, including claims management. But prior cuts in recruiting and training of new claims adjusters have left many claims departments severely weakened and overworked.
Conning attributes some of the fault for the claims labor shortage to the insurance industry. The industry has not done enough to attract college graduates to a career in claims. Insurers also need to be more proactive in making advanced training and educational opportunities available for their claims staffs. Many of the claims executives interviewed for the Conning study pointed out that there is often no clearly defined career path for claims professionals and no development plans to prepare people for positions of increased responsibility.
Runaway litigation has exacerbated the impending crisis of the shortage of qualified claims professionals in the property casualty sector. Since in many cases, insurers cannot rely on the courts to put a cap on the size of a claim and juries have shown a tendency to side with the claimants, their best defense is to maintain highly experienced claims departments.
Jim Lakes
National Catastrophe Director
RAC Adjustments, Inc.
866.241.6574 |
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