Preparing For And Responding To A Large Property Loss

Often, the last thing a company wants to address immediately following a large property loss is an insurance claim. However, the claims preparation process is vital to ensuring that a business survives a large property loss. Throughout my career of measuring and preparing large property losses for insureds, I have learned many lessons to ensure the claims process goes smoothly and efficiently. Below, I outline six critical steps to take prior to and following a loss to increase the chances of a favorable claims outcome.

Prior to a loss:

• Ensure your reported values are accurate

To place insurance, each year a company reports the annual values of the property, inventory and business interruption risk to insurers. Inaccurate values can lead to several difficult outcomes, including co-insurance penalties, insufficient limits of insurance or inaccurate deductibles.