| Author |
Message |
Ghostbuster (Ghostbuster)
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - 8:43 am: | |
Jim,
I see three distinct paragraphs here.
#1 Amen, Brother Lake! It's a bullseye and right on the nose.
#2 It's not the attitude. It's the folding to the carriers to send out more of us than are really needed. The carriers have jumped on the overstaffing bandwagon in order to close down the storm quickly. And we are the ones who take the hit because too many cooks spoil the soup. The vendors still maintain their earnings while our earnings are whacked by 50, 60, 70%. There in lies the miracle of overstaffing. As for the concept of quality, I am starting to wonder if our hotshot professional insurance designations mean anything anymore. They kinda remind me of the Good Conduct Medal. As in a CPCU and $1.00 will buy a cup of coffee! But, yes, the Law of Supply and Demand has not been repealed yet.
#3 I know who the good ones are and the ones that are the same birds of a feather as me. This trade we are in, is indeed my chosen profession. Some 25 years ago, I discovered this chughole in the road of life and found it fits my Rhino butt just fine, thank you very much! If I didn't care about the status of our trade, I wouldn't be sounding the alarm, for like you say, Life is indeed too short. |
Dave (Dave)
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - 12:19 am: | |
Here is an excerpt from the June ,00 Katts report.
The discussions are all around us, and yet, no action has been taken. The trip starts with the first step.
3.The Independent Adjusting Firm. The use of These firms
as an outsource, depends upon the relationship of the
vendor with the carrier, the quality of the work that is
produced, the cost of the work, as compared to the
established carrier anticipated costs, and the amount of
claims received by the carrier. This is our bread and
butter. IF the vendor Receives work, they will need
our services. We are not always employees, and some
work for only one vendor while others choose to work
for several. The ancillary to this is the quality of the
work product. For the vendor is judged on our
performance and work product and our abilities to
adhere to the criteria set forth by the employer of the
vendor.
Now for the Independent Adjusting Firm:
These individuals take a tremendous risk. They have to outfit
and fund the entire operation. Including the offices, staff,
insurances and vehicles, computers, software, not to mention
the costs incurred in marketing, traveling, personal exposure etc.
Most of the firms are very reputable. They have considered the
opportunities, assessed the risks and have opted to jump into
the fire. Some have been around longer than others and there
are always new faces in new places. What with spin-offs,
breakaways, retirees that wish not to waste away, whatever.
These firms risk everything on ONE THING. That is the potential
for some catastrophic event to "make their day." This , of course
does not always happen, and they are forced to venture into
differing methods of providing an income and gaining some kind of
return on their investment.
The firms are also faced with a common dilemma. There are only
so many Cat adjusters to call upon, and for the most part every
vendor has many of the same people on their call-out lists. Some
vendors do have their core contingent and others do have
committed personnel. These are the ones that can provide some
guarantee of income to their people:
The risks that face the vendors are similar to those that
face the carriers.
Will we have any losses?
Whom will provide the finished product that will be
acceptable?
Whom can we depend on to be there?
Whom will present themselves in a favorable light to the
insured?
So the risk of the IA vendor is significant.
1.They have to establish themselves.
2.Finance the operation.
3.Market the Carriers.
4.Acquire competent personnel to produce the work
product.
5.Make enough profit to be around next year.
The independent catastrophe adjuster:
Herein lies the meat of this article. This is the profession that we
elected to pursue, and whatever we do with it , is solely up to
our discretion. |
Jim Lakes
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 10:46 pm: | |
Ghostbuster,
I don't know who you are or how long you have been working as a "Cat Adjuster." All I can say to you is this. You obviously have been working for all the vendors that you speak of.
You see, I feel that if adjusters would stop working under those conditions and refuse to run out to a storm site for those vendors that don't care about how many claims they give you, and still demand a "quality product," or what you spend to work a storm, or how far you have to travel, or when they pay you, then "Cat Adjusters" wouldn't be "Between A Rock and A Hard Place."
Not all vendors have or take the attitude that you seem to think they do. There are some "good" vendors out there that really care and try very hard to take care of those adjusters that come when called, work hard to please, and turn in a "quality" product. Its those adjusters that agree to work for the "break even" fee schedules that have caused the problem. As long as there are those that "run" to a storm site just to get the work and provide the same quality product for that schedule then the prices for our work will continue to go down and the demand for more to go up.
Before you blast all vendors, take the time to find out who the good ones are. If you feel there are none, then I suggest that you find another profession, because you should enjoy what you do and if you don't then find something that you would enjoy doing. Life is to short as it is.
If you care to contact me for further discussion about what I have stated, then you may reach me at 630.375.9640. |
Ghostbuster (Ghostbuster)
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 11:05 pm: | |
Gale, we could trade euphemisums till the cows come home. Lets turn your golden rule around by observing, He who has the goods sets the price for he who has some gold.
Do you in your business surrender your internal operations to a customer? I sure hope not. Or, do you supply your best effort the way YOU see fit to satisfy their desires? Therein lies the rub.
In this business, we are all control freaks. But we cannot let the other control freaks in the suits dictate how our shops will be run! The suits have the gold we want. We have the goods they want. This is a fundamental exercise in free enterprise. And for either party to interfere in the internal workings/operations of the other, upsets the apple cart. I percieve the carriers like some spoiled brat doing his best to spill our cart. |
Gale (Gale)
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 10:11 pm: | |
Ghostbuster maybe it has something to do with the “other” golden rule, “He who has the Gold makes the Rules.” Perhaps you are truly looking over the horizon. Remember not ever temp gets upset when they are requested over and over by a temp employer but the temp agencies will get upset if they get bypassed. If Uncle declares temps to be employees of the carrier then the temp services become referral services or headhunters for fee. Someone as to put the two parties together! Unless the carriers start keeping their own temp rosters or contract with some popular cat adjuster website to do it for them. Ghostbuster tell us more of what you see over the horizon. |
Ghostbuster (Ghostbuster)
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 8:27 pm: | |
Well folks,
I truly believe in my heart of hearts,the suits at the carriers will continue to stagger along with their grandioise schemes of ladder climbing under the catch phrase of the moment, (CUSTOMER SERVICE!, UNDERWRITING PROFITIBILITY!, TEAMWORK!, WORK SMARTER-NOT HARDER!). And the poor ol' independent, field adjuster can only try to duck, dodge, and hide till the suits ascend back into the clouds of the Home Office.
If the suits want over staffing, then the vendors will be only too happy to oblige. They still make the same amount of money for the same number of files. Whether it's 4 or 12 adjusters working. Do the vendors have the courage to stand up to the carriers over this or any other issue? To answer this, just look around...
And here's something else that is particularly nasty. The carriers have been keeping tabs on each of us. Now they are calling the vendors and specifically requesting individual people for assignments. The next logical step will be to bypass the vendor and go direct to a dedicated adjuster list and cut out the middleman vendor. Of course, an adjustment will have to made to the fee schedules to reflect the reduction of overhead cost of the vendor. There is precedent for this and I see it coming on the horizon.
Will this finally be the clarion call to action for the gutless, incipient vendors? They must have some kind of masochistic streak to allow the carriers to dictate how they run their business.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again, Ben Franklin said, "Either we hang together, or we hang alone." Ol' Ben was talking about the Britsh, our Redcoats are the carriers. |
Tomj (Tomj)
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 11:05 am: | |
Just a thought, how many adjusters will travel to one of the Northwest states or down to the other corners of the country for 25 files? |
Dave (Dave)
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 10:58 am: | |
John,
Could not agree more. The "overstaffing" by the carriers, to provide "customer service" is a true mis-nomer.
It is nigh on impossible for an unskilled,untrained, neophyte to provide the necessary skills, have the knowledge of both policy and construction, and above all the people skills necessary to properly and adequately provide true service. And in a large cat that is what they get.
You are correct in that a seasoned professional can handle 100+ assignments. They normally hire the staff required to make initial contact, schedule appointments, do computer input, whatever is required to ensure a proper and expedient turnaround.
Flood work is an example of the error of the ways of the carriers. In a flood situation, the claims may be 10 days or more before the risk is available to be seen,( unless you prefer SCUBA investigations.)
We all must face the facts that while the carriers are paying the bills, they cannot and do not get what they expect. For their expectations are based on boardroom conversations, not field experiences. This will be exacerbated in the next large cat, IMHO.
There are answers to the issues, if only we could get them to sit with us , discuss the issues, the problems and the probable solutions.
Why can't we and they have a Catastrophe Summit, not unlike The Camp David meetings of today? They settle wars by talking, don't they?
WHY,WHEN,WHERE will this happen? In my lifetime , i surely hope, for the sake of all. |
Johnp (Johnp)
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 8:31 am: | |
I agree with both Lyndon and Dan - but it depends upon the type of "claim" we are talking about. Our best adjusters can typically average 4-6 claims per day (flood), 2-4 claims per day (hurricane wind), and 1-2 claims per day (single adjuster wind/flood combos). All though we no longer handle hail losses, the average for those claims was usually higher (6-10 range). If an adjuster does more both the cat vendor and carrier examiners get suspicious and start looking for the proverbial "side view mirror in the photo". Vendors and carriers want adjusters to take enough time to inspect and document the loss properly - no more, no less.
The current hail schedules notwithstanding, most of the schedules I have seen for wind and flood this season are fair and a good adjuster can do well.
The only problem this year, IMHO, is the fact that many carriers want to control HOW MANY claims a vendor assigns to each adjuster. Even in a large event, many of the carriers we are in contact with want to limit initial assignments to 25-50 per adjuster and no more claims until closings are submitted. This means that most adjusters will be inspected out in a week with no new losses! Vendors have to hire more adjusters to handle additional losses while other adjusters baby sit their claims until closings.
Personally, I think a good adjuster with support (spouse, sibling or a secretary) can handle up to 100-150 claims initially at a big storm (where I think most "rules" will go out the window, anyway). What do you think, CADO-ites? |
Dan Stelly
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2000 - 12:36 pm: | |
Closing 10 claims can be done only if you are assisted, and the odds are they may close but will they remain closed? It has been my experience in recent years the carriers do not want ten claims or greater, they prefer 5-7 closed properly.
It is a trend that is here to stay, carriers want CONTACT, CUSTOMER SERVICE, and properly handled and adjusted claims. You will discover if you do not concern yourself with Joe speedy adjuster and how many claims he or she has, apply your experience and quality adjusting skills, you will do very well.
This is not an Olympic event, a superbowl, the final playoffs. IT IS A JOB! Do a good job and the funds will be there. Good Luck, Dan |
Stormadjuster (Stormadjuster)
| | Posted on Saturday, July 22, 2000 - 3:05 pm: | |
Mr. Lyndon Graves, per your recent article, Perhaps you can enlighten us less fortunate adjusters as to how one completes 10 claims a day. Are these food spoilage losses in condominiums or do you just have an S on your chest. |
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