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december 2015 year
december 2015 year
2590
exclusively for journal "Business"

Guaranteed Indemnity under Real Estate Insurance Policy: Action Plan for Insured Event Emergency

exclusively for journal "Business"

Traffic accidents happen all the time. Therefore almost everyone has an idea of what to do in case of such an emergency. As to the insured events which happen to the real estate objects, they are much rarer but entail way more serious consequences.  The experience of dealing with them is quite limited. This article focuses on the key rules which would be helpful for property insurance policy holders.

«A real strategist wins the war before it even starts». Iconic Sun Tsu believed that everything was defined by strategy and attitude. As to the insurance it all comes down to knowledge and responsible attitude of the Insured.

What should you know about an insured event if you have real estate insurance policy?

  1. Insured event is always a stressful and unpredictable situation.
  2. Insured events happen quite rarely to the real estate objects.
  3. The damage can amount to millions of hryvnas.
  4. Claim settlement process is much more complicated than that of car insurance.

Therefore you should be aware of the possibilities. Receiving indemnity will not be the only worry of yours as lots of efforts will need to be put into rebuilding your property and minimizing the collateral damage affecting the continuity of your business. Very often the issue of insurance claim settlement is thrown to the bottom of the priorities list. That’s probably the first and the biggest mistake of all as the Insured eventually cannot meet the deadline stipulated by the agreement for the notification about the insured event.

Last but not the least is the stress affecting the behavior of all involved in the handling of the situation. This you cannot avoid unfortunately. However the tips below can at least minimize its influence on your actions.

  1. Action plan
Detailed action plan for emergency situations should be displayed in each and every insured real estate object
Detailed action plan for emergency situations should be displayed in each and every insured real estate object. This combined with oral instructions for all the employees will help your team overcome the agitation and think clearly in the emergency situation.   

  1. Assigned employee

This is relevant especially for large companies. The area of responsibility should be clearly assigned to everyone involved in the claim settlement process. 

  1. Studying the policy clauses

Insurance policy should be read closely before it is signed. Meaning all the conditions should be understood and accepted prior to the occurrence of the insured event.

If you believe the damage caused by an insured event to exceed the deductible amount, make sure to make the following steps:

  1. Call you insurance partner immediately to notify them of the occurrence.
  2. Call the competent authorities immediately and have them issue all the necessary certificates associated with the insured event.
  3. Take the necessary measures to minimize the actual damage. At the same time limit your actions to the emergency safety measures only. Avoid changing the site of an insured event without the prior consent of the insurance company.
  4. Make photos or footage from the site of an insured event; keep the records of all the actions associated with the event. Draft the report containing the details of the insured event and have all the concerned parties sign it.  
  5. Preserve the invoices, receipts, internal documents, notes and other primary documents which are related to the insured event.
  6. Submit the notification of an insured event in writing to the insurance companies within the deadline stipulated by your insurance policy.. It must contain date, time and description of the insured event as well as the anticipated damage calculation.

Those are the principal recommendations which would be helpful for all policy holders. Not following them might endanger your indemnity altogether.