Business Owners
Quality Claims can assist businesses in maximizing insurance claim settlements to cover building damage, personal property inventory and loss of business income due to business interruption.
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How We Can Help
The time after a loss is often traumatic and it can be daunting to focus on the many details and requirements involved in filing and resolving an insurance claim. While you are busy getting your business back in operation, Quality Claims will act as your advocate in obtaining settlement for the full amount due under your policy.
We can represent you, the insured business owner, in calculating the loss and preparing, presenting and negotiating your claim with your insurance company.
We can determine the total value of your claim including the damaged building, personal property inventory and loss of business income due to the business interruption.
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Calculating Your Loss
We can help you with the most challenging aspects of calculating your business loss
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Period of Restoration: The duration of time your loss based on. The period of restoration begins 72 hours after the physical loss or damage occurs. This period can be reduced or eliminated with certain policy endorsements.
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Extra Expense Coverage: An expense incurred to mitigate your loss. If your business has to relocate to resume operations in order to retain your customers, the costs of doing so can be claimed as extra expenses.
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Calculating the Amount of Loss: Most policies provide coverage for the amount of net profit you would have earned had no loss occurred, continuing normal expenses. Determining the profit you would have earned can be challenging.
Tips for Business Losses
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Know your rights and responsibilities in your policy. You may be asked to provide documentation that is not required. Review your settlement against your policy so that you know ALL insured damage has been adequately addressed.
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Start your business inventory immediately while your memory is fresh. Invoices and other vendor records are useful for compiling your list of damaged property. This will be a detailed process. Do not speed through it. The more time and effort you spend valuing your claim overall, the higher your ultimate settlement is likely to be.
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Do not accept the first offer as a final settlement. The insurer is required to pay you the “undisputed” amount of the insurance proceeds immediately. If an insurer offers less than you believe you are entitled to, you can accept and use those proceeds, but do not endorse a claim check that says you agree to this amount as the final settlement.
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The less money an insurer pays on a claim, the more profitable they are. This poses a potential conflict of interest. Consider hiring your own licensed public adjuster to represent you. Not every loss requires the expertise of a public insurance adjuster. The prudent thing to do is to discuss your loss with a public adjuster to get their professional opinion.
