If you were dissatisfied with your insurance claim settlement in Cincinnati your insurance agent may be partially to blame…
What specific steps can you take to make sure that doesn’t happen to you?
Logically we purchase insurance to pay for the “What If” scenario. What if my house burns down? What if I cause an accident? But the most important question we need ask is: What if my claim is not settled to my satisfaction? What steps can I take?
Unfortunately insurance claims are not always settled to a policy holder’s satisfaction. In the state of Ohio there were 1,583 complaints filed against insurance companies last year with the department of insurance. Over 30% of those complaints filed were due to claim settlement delays. 23% was due to dissatisfaction with the settlement offer and 20% was because a claim was denied.
How could your insurance agent or company that sells insurance directly to the public be responsible partially for dissatisfaction in the claim settlement process?
In the following articles we’ll consider the top three reasons why Ohioans’ felt the need to file official complaints against their insurance company and what role your insurance agent should play in the claims process.
Let’s discuss the number one reason for consumer complaints against insurance companies in Ohio:
Settlement delays
A claim settlement delay complaint specifically implies that the amount of time that it takes to settle the claim has taken much longer than necessary from the customer’s perspective and they felt enough frustration to the point of filing an official complaint with the Ohio Department of Insurance.
First of all there are a number of legitimate reasons why a claim may be delayed. As a 20 year + veteran of the insurance industry working here in the greater Cincinnati area I have probably seen it all. In my opinion and through observation I will tell you that some claims indeed are delayed unnecessarily and almost 50% of the time in my experience it is the claims adjustor handing your claim who has dropped the ball.
Because the claims adjustor drops the ball in getting the claim settled quickly we might assume that insurance companies have some hidden agenda to delay claims, but that is far from the case. Insurance companies have been penalized substantially in the past for such occurrences and do whatever it takes to avoid a bad faith lawsuit.
What role does your insurance agent play in claims settlement if it appears that your claim is taking too long? Well quite frankly a very important one as your agent is in the best position to make inquiries in your behalf directly with the claims department, including upper level claims managers that you may not be able to contact directly yourself.
In my experience claims adjustors seem to increase their pace very quickly to settle your claim when a good agent put’s a “fire” under the claim adjustor’s backside. Read this true life experience on how a bad claims adjustor turned a mole hill into a mountain of a mess and how our agency fixed the problem within 10 minutes or less.
If you have a claim and it seems the process is taking longer than necessary contact your agent first to see if they can help you.
Here is the bad news…some agents have no clue or experience on how to maneuver through the claims process and those who do may not be inclined to help you. Why??? It takes in some cases much time and effort to assist policyholders with claims. Some local insurance agents that I associate with here in Cincinnati have complained to me personally “that’s why the insurance company has a claims department.” – But I argue if the claims adjustor is dropping the ball where do policyholders turn to?
If you have a good agent, your agent will help you. If you have a bad agent they won’t lift a finger.
If you are not a current client of our agency, click here to learn what specific steps our agency takes to help you settle claims and why this service is worth its weight in Gold if you ever have difficulty in getting your claim resolved.
Why not give our agency a chance to care for your insurance needs? We are positive that you will not be disappointed. Please feel free to contact me directly by calling 513-662-7000 or sending a quick email to jack@pathwayinsurance.net
[...] I had written in a previous article your insurance agent is in the best position to help you if the claim is not being handled to your satisfaction. Having [...]