Lorega in the News
Publication: Suffolk Business Magazine
Author: John Sims
Job Title: chief executive officer
Date: 20/01/09
With the credit crunch now having a tangible effect on the Suffolk business community it is vital to check adequate insurance protection is in place. Why? Because insurers’ margins are in dire straits, which is currently focusing their minds on reducing the amount they pay out in claims.
Despite insurance being a promise to pay, the ructions caused by the credit crunch are forcing insurers, like so many others, to take drastic measures. Part of the problem is the UK insurance market is extremely competitive and price undercutting between competing insurers, which was being funded by investment returns, has been fierce in recent years. However those returns have now been decimated by falls in the stock market and insurers must cut their main outlay which is claims.
Nevertheless there is a way businesses can get their full entitlement, should they make a claim, and it is a system that has worked well on the continent for many years. There insurers provide their customers with their own professional advisor in the form of an independent loss adjuster to help them through a claim.
This is becoming more widely available in the UK from some insurers and specialist brokers such as Ryan. This service is provided through loss recovery insurance (LRI) which, for genuine claimants, not only helps ensure a fair settlement but also speeds up the whole claims process
In a downturn such as we are all now experiencing Suffolk’s businesses may well be tempted to cut their insurance spend. However in such times businesses that do not have a first class broker and LRI could find themselves up against the insurer and their loss adjuster trying to pay as little as possible. LRI, for only a minimal outlay, could make the difference between fast and full reimbursement and a potentially devastating financial predicament.
A chartered loss adjuster would very quickly know what is right and reasonable, according to the legal contact the client has with their insurer, and has the experience to push through a settlement that is fair. Given the considerable pressures on insurers to cut their claims spend, and the knock-on effect this will have on policyholders, I would argue there has never been a time where they are in need of a champion more than now and believe this is rightfully the broker with the assistance of a claims adjuster.
