Neatness Counts

Get It Together

When I had to submit insurance claims against both my homeowner’s and commercial policies, the insurance staff who processed my claim remarked that mine was the best organized submission that they had seen – and so processing my claim jumped to the front of the queue! That is not surprising: which would you rather deal with – the well-organized claim submission, neatly presented with supporting documentation or the hastily assembled report that will take some time to decipher? Make life easier for the person you are dealing with and you will make life easier for yourself.

Now I have another insight to support this recommendation. I recently met with an executive of one of the five largest property-casualty insurance companies in the U.S. and he told me that when he had started his career ten years ago, 40,000 monthly claims were processed by 8 claims adjusters. This business function was automated such that 1.5 million monthly claims are now processed by 12 claims adjusters. Often a human eye never sees the claim. Another reason to make your submission legible and your life easier.