The Typical Moving Claim Inspection

The Typical Inspection — More complicated & important than apparent!

June 1998 Revised Feb 2005 Reprinted April 2005 Updated 9/06

The Typical Moving Claim Corporate Account Inspection

More complicated and important than they appear!
The vitally important first step to a successful resolution of the claim
to keep a frequent mover account.

What are the key aspects of a typical moving claim inspection? The national moving companies do not provide any specific guidance to repair firms who conduct such important customer contacts for them.

The Inspection is an important legal step in the resolution of a claim and must be handled very carefully. Customer  relations is a crucial aspect. How well the Inspection is conducted directly leads to how smoothly the claim is resolved and at what cost savings.

The Basic Assumptions

For any subject this complicated a series of basic assumptions should be made to allow the reader to better interpret what is being said and to draw their own conclusions.

• It does not matter generally if it is an Inspection Only or an Inspect and Repair assignment.
• An employer has relocated the claimant and the move is considered a Corporate Relocation.
• The claim form has not been fully completed by the claimant. The adjuster, or others in the chain of responsibility, have not encouraged them to be more complete, leaving it to the repair firm to resolve.
• The assignment includes the cover sheet of directions, as limited as they usually are, and the basic list of claim items or a copy of the claim form itself.
• This is not a rush, urgent or sensitive claim assignment.
• It involves full value coverage with no deductible.
• The typical claim includes seven items: three cash settlements and four repairs. One-third of claims involve a third-party repair and another one-third include a denial.
• At about 10 minutes per item and 45 minutesr for all the other phases and aspects involved, the average claim consumes about 2 hours for the Inspection, report and approvals for repairs, not counting the administrative investment in telephone arrangements and paper handling.

Types of Assignments

Inspect and Repair with repairs pre-approved within certain dollar limits.

• National companies have varying dollar requirements for pre-approval of repair estimates, while others delegate such approval up to reasonable dollar limits based on the value of the items.
• When an Inspection is performed with the repair firm knowing it has reasonable repair authority within item value it can be conducted much more authoritatively with the claimant and more effectively control overall costs.

Inspect and Repair but get approvals to repair first.

• Most agents and other sources require pre-approval.
• When an Inspection is performed with the repair firm knowing it has to get budget approval for repairs from the adjuster, it means that a separate trip with all related overhead investments to arrange will be required at some cost.

Inspection Only, which likely will not lead to repairs 75%  of the time. Variously some 40-60% of all claim assignments start out as Inspections Only.

Types of Inspection Approaches

Every repair firm is set up differently and there is no suggestion of standardization. From prior discussions with CPPC members it seems most can be defined as follows:

Have Van Will Travel: These are usually small repair firms, but may include large firms that have well experienced repair staff who can conduct the inspection and perform repairs on the spot or at a later trip as required.

Have Briefcase Will Travel: These are usually medium to larger firms who have experienced sales and estimating staff, separate from repair staff.  Such firms usually believe that most claims should have repair budgets approved in advance by the adjuster because they feel they should not have to take on such a liability and do not know the corporate account aspects.

• We fall into the last category. You may handle it differently.
• When we have what looks like a simple, small, straight forward claim we use the "Have van will travel" approach. We find only 50% of them are resolved on the first trip, but we continue to try such an approach to control costs.

Contact the Claimant

Most national companies expect that the repair firm contacts the claimant within 24 hours of receipt and confirms back to the adjuster the exact date and time of appointment for the inspection. The reality is far different.

• In reality, the day of receipt or first thing next day the new assignments are collected from the fax machine and processed.
• We enter the key information into our computer control systems.
• We fax a response to the adjuster that the claim request is being pursued.
• We send a letter to the claimant advising them that we are trying to contact them. It includes our Corporate flyer that tells them who we are and what we do.
• We then develop a computerized map of the claimant's location so that we know geographically where they are when we call.
• We check other pending inspections or other trips near the claimant's location.

• We develop a scheduling plan for the inspection appointment so that we can suggest to the claimant a specific day and time that is best for us, while at the same time remaining open to the claimant's availability and needs.
• We try to conduct all Inspections in the morning (8AM TO 10am) as possible, and will schedule ourselves at 7:00 or 7:30 A.M., because that helps the claimant's work and personal needs. Remember that most repair firms also have retail businesses to administer.
• A phone call is placed to the home number provided and if they are not reached, to the work number provided.
• Annotations are made regarding attempts that have been made to reach the claimant. Less than 20 percent of such first contacts are successful, and some of the remaining ones result in a voice message on an answering machine.
• Every day or two thereafter additional attempts are made to reach the claimant, all the while constantly adjusting our scheduling plan due to other changes in our requirements.
• If the claimant can not be reached within five workdays we notify the adjuster and send a standard letter to the claimant seeking their phone call. One in ten result in this action.

On Contact

• We introduce ourselves to the claimant, explain our roles and requirements, and lay out what they need to prepare for the actual inspection.
• It is not unusual for the claimant to have to check with their spouse and to get back to us regarding the setting of an actual appointment.
• The return conversation might take several days, especially if they both work and if someone travels very much in their work

The Appointment Target is Set

• Based on our scheduling plan and the claimant's responses, we tentatively establish a day and approximate time for the appointment.
• We explain that we have to combine their Inspection with other calls and that we'll get back to them soon to confirm everything.
• We then reconsider our scheduling plan, collect all involved appointments, finalize the expected time required for each inspection, and then negotiate with each regarding their actual inspection arrangements.
• Once known, the Inspection date and time is sent to the adjuster via fax using our computer- generated form which documents all of the efforts that were required just to get the Inspection established.
• The average workdays from date of receipt of the assignment is more like five days than 24 hours, but we have fully taken into consideration our efficiency and the claimant's needs, and made arrangements as quickly as practical.
• In about 15 percent of such claims the claimant calls and requests last minute rescheduling, frequently for the slightest of reasons, causing us to repeat the whole plan for scheduling again.

The Appointment is Confirmed

• Our computer system generates a letter to the claimant that summarizes for them in writing, the appointment date and time, our requirements, and the expectations of what they should have prepared. It is rare that they miss the appointment.
• The claimant preparation requests include for them to have available their bill of lading, inventory sheets, and copy of their claim. We ask them to know where each item is located in the home and what the specific damage is, and to finish completing their claim form's requests for dates, values, and requested resolutions.
• We find that maybe 20 percent of claimants reasonably respond by at least doing some of their preparation work. Those that don’t prepare fully cause even more work for the repair firm at the inspection and in the report writing.
• We enclose a literature flyer regarding our total services to enhance our credibility.

The Appointment

• The appointment time is specific and yet we provide them a small window for our arrival such as 8:30 am but maybe 15 minutes before or after due to other inspections. As the day goes on the small window opens up to 30 minutes.
• We arrive on time, or call the claimant by car phone regarding our adjusted schedule due to the unexpected demands of prior appointments. This is required 5% of the time.
• We introduce ourselves personally and confirm that they have gotten our letter, literature, and business card or now provide it to them
• We take an informal moment to establish rapport. We might discuss where they moved from, when they actually moved and whether they had storage involved, who their employer might be and how they are enjoying the local area. We acknowledge the presence of anyone else around such as the kids or the dog to make everyone comfortable.

The Inspection

• We suggest that we inspect each item on the claim on a room-by-room basis if at all possible.
• Sometimes they have followed our letter's suggestion and have pulled together many smaller items into a central location, which really helps.
• For each item we ask that they allow us time to find it on the claim form, to read its specific, and then to listen to their statement and location of damages. Digital photos of the damage and their location on the item are then taken for review by the adjuster and use by our repair staff.
• It is usually about this point in the process when we hear "the story" with their opinions of the moving company, the packer, the driver, or how someone did not follow their requests or suggestions. The "story" has frequently been documented to the adjuster in a letter with the claim, but of course we have not been informed about that crucial background.  We make apologies.
• They frequently start with their most sensitive item or most major damaged items.
• If an unusual item, damages or requirement becomes apparent we say that we'll give them answers on resolutions as soon as we have seen the total claim.
• For each item, before we are done and usually while dealing with each, we clarify or elicit definition, age, value, resolution expected or likely, ask questions that are often leading regarding our proposed resolution. We tell them specifically what we expect the adjuster will approve based on what we can recommend. Knowing that potential repairs are likely really helps at this crucial stage.
• For cash settlement items we try to resolve some resolution short of full cash settlement, such as an allowance for a small part that they need to obtain from a standard supplier or the manufacturer based on their owner's manual. We usually do not get specific about amounts or percentages of value, but generalize them.
• For repairable items we distinguish between those that we will repair and those that we'll have third party experts repair.
• If other third-party repair firms are involved we tell the claimant who they can expect to hear from and something about the other firm's credentials.
• For any repair we state what we expect to do and what the result should look like. If there are any concerns by the claimant, we negotiate them away by changing the expected repair procedures. Claimants have no concept of repairs being limited by the value of the item.
• Digital camera pictures are taken of most items and most damage areas as appropriate. The pictures help to establish the formality of what we are doing, lets the adjuster eventually see what we are talking about and gives specific guidance to our repair staff or other third parties regarding what they are to resolve.
• At the conclusion of the Inspection we clarify for the claimant whatever might be required and specifically inform them when we will need to seek approvals and make other arrangements.
• We thank them for their cooperation and tell them that they will hear back from us, or the adjuster, within a few weeks, usually two weeks.
• Small repairable items that might get repaired better in our shop could be taken at this time in order to "get the ball rolling," if repair approval is pre-known.
• If we are going to do any repairs, the pickup for salvage of applicable cash settlements is done at the time of on site repairs or pick-up of major items.

The Inspection Day

• The typical inspection day involves two to six inspections in the local area.
• Upon our return to the office we immediately process the digital photos for review and submission.
• We write our Preliminary Report with Budgets for the total claim including special narrative regarding the general situation and raise vital issues for the adjuster.
• We fax the Report to the adjuster within 24 hours, seeking approvals upon their review.

The Follow-Up

• We wait a few days for the adjuster to get our faxed report by inter-office "snail mail" and to receive our mailed pictures. It is not unusual to hear they have gotten our pictures but still do not have our faxed report.
• Digital photos can now be emailed to adjuster if that is requested by them. Regretfully, we can not email our reports but must rely on the trusty fax machine.
• About 75 percent of the time we contact the adjuster by phone to again elicit their approval for the repair budget, even though we asked them to fax their approval.
• Now knowing if we have approval to proceed with repairs, we develop our plan of repair for dates and workloads, along with all other claim and retail work on the books.
• We again contact the claimant to inform them of the approvals and our plan for repairs. We go back through the appointment setting stages recognizing their needs and our repair staff scheduling along with other workloads.

Who Handles What

• As the business owner and most expert in diagnosis, budgeting, and estimating I usually perform all full inspections and report writing. It is usually my only direct contact with the claimant.
• My General Manager is responsible for all other contacts and arrangements on my behalf. She keeps me posted on significant issues and advises me of any important adjuster or claimant contacts or queries.
• My repair staff performs all future in-home contacts. They likewise keep me posted.

As a repair firm, how do you do it differently?

As an adjuster, do you want us to perform them differently?