6th March, 2014

How to lodge a business insurance claim

If you’re protected by comprehensive business insurance in Perth, your organisation can safely operate with the confidence that you’ll be covered in the event a loss-causing incident affects your company.

However, when it comes time to actually lodge a claim with your insurance provider, not following the correct procedure could result in you missing out on vital financial support. Additionally, you could be denied access to some of your benefits altogether.

It is therefore important that you completely understand the claims process before you are required to follow it. This will ensure that your provider will accept the claims you put forward and your business can recover from financial loss more efficiently.

When a loss-causing incident occurs – whether it is from weather damage, theft, legal costs or vandalism – the first thing you should do is contact the proper authorities.

Depending on the type of incident, this could include law enforcement personnel, medical professionals or your legal advisors. Once this step has been completed, you should then contact your insurance provider or registered insurance broker in Perth as soon as possible.

Your insurance broker will then be able to walk you through the claims process, to ensure you do not miss any vital steps. Often the claims process will include documenting any damage or losses incurred by your business. This can include taking photos or organising reports from professionals nominated by your insurer.

Once you have sufficiently documented the loss and received any quotations required for repairs, replacement or recover, this information should be passed directly to your broker or insurer.

This process needs to be completed before any repairs are carried out, to ensure you are not caught short if the insurer requires their own advisor to attend the scene. Additionally, best practice would be to submit any business insurance claims within a week of the occurrence – or sooner for claims larger than $5,000.

Author: Murray Bruce