How Pretesting Property Reduces Insurance Claims
5/19/2022 (Permalink)
Is pretesting for damage before claim approval in your customer's best interest? Is the procedure helpful to you, the insurer? Our locally owned SERVPRO franchises seek to help both sides, satisfying our clients and their insurance agencies. Staff members in Salt Lake City, UT work to provide vital data to guide both parties through the restoration and claim process. We can minimize future troubles and filings with swift action and early detection. Here are three main points to know and understand.
Important Points to Know about Insurance Claims
1. Awareness Reduces Insurance Claim Costs and Secondary Damage
Water damage requires intense cleanup because the moisture harms the building and items. Improperly treated or untreated water damage leads to several problems, particularly mold and mildew. Water sits idly within objects and materials, allowing spores to reproduce. These microbes multiply quickly. Within a day or two, an infestation can spread throughout a room.
Without early testing, commercial owners may miss critical steps in the repairs, focusing on the drying procedures and ignoring the potential for eventual growth. What if a room is saturated but isn't visibly detectable? The fungus could grow, requiring a claim in a few months or a year. Furthermore, people may realize that personal objects such as chairs and clothing received impact, requesting property loss reimbursement months after the event.
Prompt detection allows clients to file simultaneously and reduces confusion and debates.
2. Testing Focuses on Immediate Needs and Future Complications
When owners call a team for help, the crew arrives ready to complete a thorough pretesting evaluation. They look to the source, immediately working to resolve the problem. By stopping the water flow and identifying the origin, owners and agents have less to fix.
It's about the present and the future, so experts then begin collecting specimens to note the level of contamination. Air and physical collections provide a clear overview of whether microbes have set into the walls, floor and belongings. Moisture reading tools detail the extent of fluid saturation, and inspections occur within various rooms to note deterioration and structural concerns.
The goal is to identify both visible and invisible sources of immediate and long-term hazards. Catching trouble early allows for early intervention and reduces owner claims.
3. Testing Informs Insurance Agents About Property Conditions
When proprietors submit a claim, you, as the insurance agent, want assurance that this problem did not result from prior negligence or misconduct. Did an owner know that the water heater was leaking? Was there an underlying problem that they should have caught earlier? Business leaders often underestimate the potential for mold and water development from something minor, but it does matter. You need this factor ruled out before you release a claim check.
After an early investigation by remediation professionals, agencies and clients receive a detailed report noting how something happened, what experts can do about it and how the team could prevent future contamination issues.
Pretesting benefits both the commercial owner and the insurer, guiding both through the restoration process and understanding the impact of the damage. Using innovative technology and reacting quickly allows SERVPRO to get ahead of issues, minimizing additional claims.