ONE BIG THING: Defending claims from dollar-one is crucial in this era of increased deductibles and retentions. Know if you can count on your insurer. Regardless, prepare to protect yourself.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: You’ve got skin in the risk game. It is no longer a “dollar-one coverage” world. That was in a galaxy far, far away.
The key in today’s world is “total cost of risk”. Just read the ATRI Insurance study.
“Total cost of risk”=premium + deductible payout + cost of safety/risk program. The premium is a known, annual amount. The rest is in your control to at least some degree.
Aggressive defense of accidents and increased investment in safety/risk program can greatly reduce your “total cost of risk”. According to the ATRI study, companies reduced their payout by controlling their deductible losses and increasing safety/risk investment.
KEYS: Know what your insurer will do…or not do. Regardless, take action to protect your company.
THE SPECIFICS
1. Insurance—what defense can you expect from your insurer? Will they jump on the claim? Immediately?
Or are they like many who have a lag time until the claim is open, the adjuster is assigned, the adjuster reviews it….i.e. days until any action or outreach to the other vehicle? That is time in which vital evidence can be lost and frustrated claimants read a billboard and get a lawyer.
One company that had a weekend fatality was put on hold by their insurer two hours without anyone helping them. Monday? Federal holiday. It was not until Tuesday that they spoke to anyone and a claim was opened.
Don’t just rely on what they tell you during the sales process. Ask others with this insurer tell you the reality.
You wouldn’t hire a dispatcher without references. Why would you empower someone to have a major impact on your bottom line without investigating their claim practices? Their defense response?
Will they “defend the zero”? The term, from my friends at Protective, means that if you don’t owe you don’t pay AND you work to keep that $0.
Alternatively, is every claim, regardless of lack of fault or injury, worth “cost of defense”? Costing you at least $25K of your money? “Hit a truck, get a check”.
Will you have a say in settlements? Rarely will you control, but you may be afforded input—it is YOUR money many times.
Premium is the starting point for insurance, not the end. Find out what you can expect for a response, defense, and adjustment of accident. Did I say, “It’s your money”?
2. Self-Defense-“The Lord helps those that help themselves”. Protect yourself as if it was your money. It is.
While nuclear verdicts get the headlines, trucking companies are hemorrhaging thousands of dollars in deductible payouts over time. Death by a thousand cuts.
Pre-accident--review your safety program. Systemic failures that detonate nuclear verdicts can inflate deductible payouts. Hours of service issues, lack of training, overspeeds,…can make a $0 loss compensable. At $25K loss worth $50K.
Got the idea? The price of protection is eternal vigilance. Investment in safety provides returns multiple times over. Moreover, constant review and correction deprives billboard attorneys of the leverage they use to inflate payouts.
Accident Response—We have an advantage that none of those billboard vultures have—IMMEDIACY. If you are not prepared and do not act immediately, you have squandered your greatest asset.
a. Preparation—have a plan. Need one? Email me for forms for an accident response plan, dispatcher guidance to driver, accident form, photo list, and document retention list. Also, driver training videos. They’re free. Seriously.
b. Action—Immediately. We have a client that engages us for every incident involving their drivers. We interview the driver, protecting it with attorney-client privilege. We triage the accident and give our recommendation.
At fault? Get someone out there with a check. Get their car fixed. Pay a few bucks for their trouble…and full release. Get it resolved before they get a lawyer.
Defensible? What can we do to protect the $0? Have an independent adjuster canvas for videos of the accident from businesses or Ring doorbells? Interview witnesses. Get an ECM download. Have the car airbag downloaded.
The cost? Our fees for this initial triage and direction are rarely as much as $200. But our client gets ahead of the claim. Immediacy.
c. Pierce “The Dark Period”—don’t let the claimant run up unchallenged damages.
Too many insurers get the letter of representation and sit back until suit. That is a prescription for overpayment. With your money.
Instead, the letter of representation should trigger your response. We push back with a letter sending releases and requesting an immediate IME. Consider surveillance.
Consider suing them first if there is a basis for liability of the claimant. It’s explained my video.
d. Litigation—Have an attorney look out for your interests. The optimum is if you can choose counsel. Someone you know and trust.
And someone who has tried cases. In the words of Conway Twitty, “Don’t call him a ‘cowboy’ until you seen him ride.”
No choice? Then have an attorney (you know and trust) to oversee the process on your end.
Someone to streamline discovery and make sure it is consistent from case-to-case. Billboard lawyers share information and pounce on inconsistencies and discrepancies from case to case.
BOTTOM LINE: Is the “bottom line”—yours. Protect your company’s “bottom line” by defending claims from “dollar one”. Know what to expect from your insurer. And regardless, act to protect yourself. Because—for one last time—“it’s your money.”