Unternehmensberatung Dr. Matthias Vieth

Companies take out industrial insurance to ensure effective and efficient protection of their assets and earning power against loss risks. But how much protection can the industrial insurer really provide? And how deceptive is this protection if the company has not recognized its responsibility in insurance management as an elementary part of its risk management, thus failing to provide a functional system?

We provide the necessary support to introduce an insurance management system or help you to improve your existing one. Questions about the effectiveness of your insurance management should be asked before a loss occurs.

When an insurance company is notified of a claim, it is necessary to consider essential factors which determine the claims settlement in a practical scenario. If agreed, the insurance broker is responsible for communication with the insurance company. After correct and timely claims notification, the company must provide all the relevant information about the claimant, the cause and extent of loss, the contract situation with the customer, the technical specifications, and the acceptance documents, as well as further relevant information for assessing the cause of loss and the liability situation, to ensure the insurance company can answer any questions regarding coverage. Moreover, the company must deal with the settlement of uninsured losses if the resulting claims can be defended or transferred to a third party. If the company happens to make procedural errors during the claims settlement, it may lead not only to the insurance company refusing liability but also to the forfeiture of all claims against the initiators.

Below are a few examples of errors which the company might make in the event of a claim and which may jeopardize or prevent a settlement being reached in favor of the company:

1. The company fails to register losses immediately with the insurance company, but waits until the losses have been eliminated and solutions implemented. The insurance company no longer has an opportunity to draw its own conclusions about the extent and possible cause of loss. Further, if a claims notification is not received within due time, e. g. out of consideration for the customer-supplier relationship, it raises suspicions regarding the recognition of liability for the cause of loss.
2. Losses are not documented, evidence is not secured or actually destroyed when eliminating losses and implementing the solution.
3. Liability recognition or even ex gratia arrangements agreed without the express approval of the insurance company can lead to the insurer refusing to settle the claim.
4. Experts, lawyers, and claim managers are brought in without their appointment and the resulting costs being agreed with the insurance company in advance.
5. Incomplete or even incorrectly issued invoices for the elimination of losses are not paid by the insurer.
6. The conditions and extent of coverage in the insurance policies do not correspond to the company’s actual risk portfolio so that loss occurrences are not covered. 

Are you certain that such cases are handled correctly by your company’s current risk, claim, and insurance management system? Can you be sure of correct handling if cases of loss occur in your subsidiaries in America, Australia, Asia or Europe? Can you guarantee that you as the responsible risk, claim or insurance manager always have the appropriate resources at your disposal to react in a timely manner? Do all members of staff in your company provide the required level of attention to recognize and deal with loss potentials correctly?