Advice wanted concerning Insurance Assessor

Leblanc_2

We had our furniture damaged by our removers.
The insurance company have been querying repair estimates.
Now they want to send an insurance assessor.
I have not had a claim before and am suspicious that this is a possible tactic by them to reduce their liabilities.
Any advice on how to deal with their appointed assessor, as I have no experience of this?

Astaroth

Many claims involve claims assessors.... it is difficult to review an estimate and workout if it is fair or not without seeing the damage "for yourself". Whilst fraud isnt the only thing it is easy for someone to have a single skin garden wall that gets knocked down but get the builders to quote on the basis of build a new better double skin wall.

Some insurers have a limit as low as £500 before sending out an assessor but with a sensible approach that a TV isnt worth sending someone out for at £500 where as a carpet probably will be.

They are there simply to make sure everything is correct, the one personal claim I made the assessor actually said I was understating my claim and so increased the amount of money I got. All you need to do is co-operate with them and answer anything honestly

mattymoo

Firstly some terminology.
The insurers will be sending a loss adjuster - they work for the insurers to settle the claim.
An assessor is somebody that you appoint in order to maximise your claim. They take a percentage of the settlement as their fee.

You do not say who the insurers are. Is it your own insurance company or the removal companies insurers? If it is the latter they will also be looking at liability - in other words, did their client cause the damage you claim?

Adjuster tend to be appointed on cases where the claim value exceeds £1000. They will view the damaged items and look at the repair quotes you have.
If we are talking about Ikea type flat pack stuff, they may direct you to replace the items as this is often cheaper than repair.
If the furniture is high value / antique then they may simply arrange for another repair company to have a look at it and produce a quote. Good business practice really since you would never go ahead with the first quote until you have something to compare against.

Finally, they will check the furniture / goods are as described. This is simply a fraud check and is a result of every lost pair of sunglasses being Police, every raincoat being Burberry and every wooden chair being a Chippendale.