Don't Wait for the Big One - Be Prepared

 I recently came across an informative article about catastrophic earthquakes in Claims Advisor Magazine by Annmarie Geddes Lipold called Waiting for the Big One, and the key takeaway from this article for both carriers and insureds is: Don’t wait for the big one – be prepared.

Geddes Lipold provides an impressive array of stats on the recent catastrophes in Chili and Haiti and the fact that many regions in the U.S., from east-to-middle-to-west, are likely to suffer quakes of similar or even great magnitude within the next 30 years.   But since the U.S. hasn’t experienced a serious seismic disturbance since 1994’s Northridge quake in California’s San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles – causing an estimated $20 billion in damage and making it one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history – insureds and carriers have grown complacent.  According to Geddes Lipold’s article, 33 percent of residents had earthquake coverage when the Northridge disaster struck 16 years ago compared to just 12 percent of California residents who have it today.

While Geddes Lipold’s article focuses on the structural aspects of property claims, the prospect of this CAT scenario is made even more frightening when you consider the fact that contents claims can often be far more complex, time consuming – and, in some cases, more costly and disruptive to life and peace of mind for both carriers and insureds than claims for structural damages.

One of our main goals at Enservio is to provide carriers and adjusters with the right mix of technology and services to help insureds quickly create an accurate inventory of lost or damaged items and accelerate the replacement of those items – even in the aftermath of a disaster such as a catastrophic earthquake or flash flood.  The key is to be prepared for losses, large or small. Check out the articles below for tons of real world examples of contents claims challenges and how carriers and insureds can benefit by being prepared with solutions and knowing who to turn to. 

Handling Specialty Contents Claims: Prevent Hard-to-Value Items from Gumming Up the Process

by Tom Kirkpatrick, President of EnservioSelect

Taming Contents Claims: Dedicated Experts, Technology, and Service Professionals are Required

by Jon McNeill, CEO of Enservio