CLAIMS
We have seen an increase in claims and are reminded that it may help to reach out to make everyone aware of the following that you will find to be helpful when a claim arises.
Types of Claims
A. Auto Liability - Bodily Injury & Property Damage
B. Physical Damage - Equipment you own, rent, lease or borrow.
C. Cargo claims - Claims that are often the most difficult to handle for the Trucker and Insurance company.
D. Workmans Comp - Injured employees on the job.
E. General Liability - Bodily Injury & Property Damage Claims arising from operations and accidents occuring on premises you own or operate.
REPORTING claims when they happen, must be reported immediately - this is critical to assist in proper handling. Proper reporting can result in a substantial savings on the amount a claim will cost, thereby reducing your insurance cost at the same time.
NOTE: Do not try to determine what may be the results if you have a claim and think you should not report it.
Cargo claims - train your drivers and make it your company policy to be sure your driver reports any exception when it happens. When an exception occurs at the time of delivery, advise your driver not to leave prior to reporting this exception and then have this reported to your insurance carrier. We have had two recent claims where the trucker thought there would be no claim and did not report them. Both ended up being a claim and they amounted to more than $15,000.
Be aware Cargo Theft Claims require the trucker take every precaution to prevent theft claims. From theft claims that have been reported these past 2 weeks, it is evident that little or no preventive effort was made to keep these thefts from happening.
Recently, Business Insurance had a report that cargo thieves are using increasingly sophisticated scams. Thieves are taking cargo thefts to a new level, experts say. Consumer electronics, non perishable food, apparel and pharmaceuticals remain high-target items. Metal Cargo thefts have soared 68% in the first half of the year.
Auto Liability Claims- We receive calls to report a claim and the trucker begins explaining they had an accident 3 or 4 days ago and did not have all the information or was waiting on a police report or whatever the reason they did not report when it happened. It does not MATTER - if you have all the information - REPORT THE CLAIM. You know your truck and driver information and where the accident happened. Report what you know so a claim number and an adjuster can be assigned to handle.
Remember some insurance companies require the insured trucker to report all claims directly to them. After this is done and you would like to contact us, we are certainly glad to assist where we can, but we do not settle claims and anyone you are involved with in an accident should contact your insurance company for any resolution.
Please contact us if we can help regarding any claim matters. We have some excellent companies who we can access to help also.
