Business Interruption Claims Checklist You’ve moved from the asset side of your insurance company’s ledger (paying premiums) to the liability side of their ledger (you get paid by them for your damages).
Know everything you possibly can about the fine print of your insurance policy before you have any substantive dialogue with them. Know what you are covered for and how. It’s not simple. What you say to your insurance company’s adjuster and how you say it can make a dramatic difference in how much you get paid. The more you know, the better the results you’ll get.
Review the bullet points below. Make sure you fully understand the meaning of each one before you move forward. Feel free to reach out to us for a no-cost discussion of your claim.
- The insurance company is engaging a forensic accountant.
- What is their role?
- Why can’t you just have your accountant prepare your claim?
- What is the harm in sharing your financial statements?
- Are you required to produce your tax returns?
- Can you recast your statements? If so, why?
- Is there coinsurance in your policy?
- If there is, what does it mean?
- If there is, did your insurance adjuster tell you? If not, why not?
- Are you entitled to any advance from the insurance company? How much is reasonable?
- Utilizing proformas/budgets to calculate loss of income.
- What are expediting expenses? How do they differ from extra expenses?
- What are extra expenses? What can be included?
- How do you project lost sales? What about new products? Sales declines?
- Credit for continuing sales. How are they calculated?
- What if you have another location and your policies are not blanket? What if they are blanket?
- The extended period of indemnity and how it works.
- What happens if you open your business elsewhere and you are successful? What if you are not successful?
- Can you continue to pay your employees?
- “Ordinary” employees versus “key” employees. How do they get classified? What is covered?
- What is your broker/agent’s role?
- Will they be adjusting the claim?
- How many claims have they handled?
- Will their role be active or passive?
- Do they have an accounting degree?
- When faced with supporting your position or the insurance company’s, where will they stand?
For decades, business owners facing property damage have turned to The Greenspan Co./Adjusters International to help them rebuild their businesses. As public adjusters, we work for you, advocating on your behalf, and never for insurance companies.
Would you go to court without a lawyer? Or run a business without an accountant? Recovering from a disaster can be difficult and overwhelming. Add to this a complex insurance policy with vague language, coverage questions, and the need to prove every detail of your loss to the insurance company. It soon becomes clear that you could use experts at your side.
Public adjusters are the only category of insurance adjuster who work exclusively for you, the policyholder. With a staff that includes licensed public adjusters, building estimators, inventory specialists, attorneys and accountants, we have the resources and expertise to help you get everything you are owed under the terms of your insurance policy. We bring local knowledge and a strong commitment to personalized client service to each and every property insurance claim.