Stephanie Jaynes
09-17-2019, 03:38 PM
Hi InspectionNews readers,
Every few months or so, we try to share a story from our pre-claim and claim archives. By choosing cases representative of the allegations coming in, we hope to help you manage your own business' risk against similar complaints.
Enjoy!
Stephanie
With A Little Help From My Friends: A Home Inspection Insurance Pre-Claim
The following is a real home inspection insurance pre-claim from our insurance claim archives. In order to protect the insured's identity, all identifiable characteristics?including names, associations, and locations?have been omitted or removed.
A year after their inspection, a client began to perform renovations to their recently purchased property. Upon removing some exterior siding by the basement entrance and some insulation in the basement ceiling, the client discovered some powder post beetle damage.
The client asked their home inspector to take a look at what he'd uncovered. When the inspector returned to re-inspect the property, the inspector took photos of the damage. Additionally, the inspector explained that, because of the siding and the insulation, the beetle damage was not visible during the inspection. The client resolved to ask the sellers to compensate him for the damage.
Two months after the re-inspection, the client called the home inspector again. He hadn't heard back from the sellers, he explained, so he had reached out to some lawyers to ask what to do. The lawyers advised that he redirect his complaint to the home inspector. The inspectors' insurance, the lawyers said, should cover the cost to repair the damage.
The Response
Having heard about pre-claims assistance in a recent newsletter, the home inspector reached out to our pre-claims team for assistance. Because his client's complaint lacked a written demand for money?which is how his insurance policy defines a claim?the inspector's incident qualified for free legal help stifling the grievance. Additionally, should the complaint escalate to a claim after pre-claims assistance tried to help, the inspector would qualify for up to 50 percent off his deductible through his policy's Waiver of Deductible endorsement (https://www.inspectorproinsurance.com/insurance-101/early-reporting/?utm_source=InspectionNews&utm_medium=Referral). (You can learn more about pre-claims assistance here (https://www.inspectorproinsurance.com/insurance-101/pre-claims-assistance/?utm_source=InspectionNews&utm_medium=Referral).)
The home inspector discussed the issue with pre-claims assistance over the phone. During the conversation, the home inspector was able to tell his side of the story and receive helpful risk management tips.
"[My pre-claims agent] explained to me that, the faster you deal with these situations and get [a response] out to the client so that they understand what the limitations of the inspection are, the better chance you have of them not following up further with litigation," the home inspector told us in an interview for this article.
[READ MORE] (https://www.inspectorproinsurance.com/case-study/home-inspection-insurance-pre-claim-beetles/?utm_source=InspectionNews&utm_medium=Referral)
Every few months or so, we try to share a story from our pre-claim and claim archives. By choosing cases representative of the allegations coming in, we hope to help you manage your own business' risk against similar complaints.
Enjoy!
Stephanie
With A Little Help From My Friends: A Home Inspection Insurance Pre-Claim
The following is a real home inspection insurance pre-claim from our insurance claim archives. In order to protect the insured's identity, all identifiable characteristics?including names, associations, and locations?have been omitted or removed.
A year after their inspection, a client began to perform renovations to their recently purchased property. Upon removing some exterior siding by the basement entrance and some insulation in the basement ceiling, the client discovered some powder post beetle damage.
The client asked their home inspector to take a look at what he'd uncovered. When the inspector returned to re-inspect the property, the inspector took photos of the damage. Additionally, the inspector explained that, because of the siding and the insulation, the beetle damage was not visible during the inspection. The client resolved to ask the sellers to compensate him for the damage.
Two months after the re-inspection, the client called the home inspector again. He hadn't heard back from the sellers, he explained, so he had reached out to some lawyers to ask what to do. The lawyers advised that he redirect his complaint to the home inspector. The inspectors' insurance, the lawyers said, should cover the cost to repair the damage.
The Response
Having heard about pre-claims assistance in a recent newsletter, the home inspector reached out to our pre-claims team for assistance. Because his client's complaint lacked a written demand for money?which is how his insurance policy defines a claim?the inspector's incident qualified for free legal help stifling the grievance. Additionally, should the complaint escalate to a claim after pre-claims assistance tried to help, the inspector would qualify for up to 50 percent off his deductible through his policy's Waiver of Deductible endorsement (https://www.inspectorproinsurance.com/insurance-101/early-reporting/?utm_source=InspectionNews&utm_medium=Referral). (You can learn more about pre-claims assistance here (https://www.inspectorproinsurance.com/insurance-101/pre-claims-assistance/?utm_source=InspectionNews&utm_medium=Referral).)
The home inspector discussed the issue with pre-claims assistance over the phone. During the conversation, the home inspector was able to tell his side of the story and receive helpful risk management tips.
"[My pre-claims agent] explained to me that, the faster you deal with these situations and get [a response] out to the client so that they understand what the limitations of the inspection are, the better chance you have of them not following up further with litigation," the home inspector told us in an interview for this article.
[READ MORE] (https://www.inspectorproinsurance.com/case-study/home-inspection-insurance-pre-claim-beetles/?utm_source=InspectionNews&utm_medium=Referral)