Loss assessor

linaraman

Hi, I know this is an old thread, but currently I am looking to appoint a loss assessor due to my buildings insurance claim has been rejected. All I want is for someone independent to come round to inspect my property, determine primary case of damage and calculate repair costs. The report then will be sent to the insurance company and if that doesn't help then to the Financial Ombudsman to their review. I am happy to pay a fee. I am London based. Any previous experiences or recommendations?

Calijet

Hi Guys, sorry to drag up an old thread but thought I would just provide my input on this as a Loss Assessor.

Unfortunately this profession is rife with unregulated, inexperienced and/or franchised assessors which exist for one reason only, to either rip off the insurer, the policyholder, or both. It’s these ‘Assessors’ which give the profession a bad name.

This profession is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The first thing to check before engaging with any Loss Assessor is to check that they are authorised by the FCA, this can easily checked online, on the FCA register. Where this regulation falls down, is that you are still permitted to carry out the regulated activity of Loss Assessing as an ‘Appointed Representative’ of another authorised firm and there are hundreds that exist out there where anyone can pay a monthly fee, have very little checks carried out and become an authorised AR. I would strongly advise only engaging with a Loss Assessor that is DIRECTLY authorised by the FCA and not an AR of another firm, again easily checked on the FCA register. Being directly authorised will give you the reassurance that the business has undergone stringent checks by the FCA and regularly reports directly to the FCA. This will also give you access to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which will cover costs up to £85k should the Loss Assessors business go bust.

Signing a mandate to allow the assessor to manage your claim is standard practice and is a requirement. But the way in which client money is handled seems to vary widely. If an assessors mandate stipulates that money should be transferred direct to them, they must have client money holding permissions granted by the FCA (check the register), if they don’t, they are breaking the law. The FCA enforce strict conditions for holding client money which involves a segregated client account with a stipulated amount of liquidity in that account dependant on the business turnover and the FCA will audit this account.

I personally wouldn’t recommend using an assessor that has the money transferred to their account, takes their % and transfers the remaining to you.

Normal practice for an assessor is to assess your personal needs and advise in their professional opinion what would be the most suitable way of managing your claim. The two options are either using the assessor to get you the best possible settlement for your claim, which they will charge you a % of the claim settlement to do so, this % percentage should be proportionate to the amount of time and resource they spend on assessing the claim, this will vary from claim to claim. The second option would be to let the assessor appoint a contractor to carry out the reinstatement work, normally taking this option will allow the loss assessing to be carried out at no cost as the contractor will pay the assessor commission for feeding them volume work. If the latter is carried out, no money should be transferred to the assessor until you sign off on the repair, this avoids the firm having to obtain client money holding permissions from the FCA and provides you the reassurance that the work will be carried out to your satisfaction.

The Loss Assessor must be very clear and transparent about what he is doing with your claim, what information he is sending to your insurance company and what he is charging you up front. If any of this an obstacle or he refuses to disclose anything to you, do not use him.

Building work costs can vary hugely from contractor to contractor. An assessor’s role is to hit the best possible rates they can, so the policyholder has the option to choose whatever contractor they like. After all why should you be forced to use a cheap contractor, you do get what you pay for in this world and as the policyholder you have the right to choose your own contractor.

There are two main insurance institues in the UK, the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (cert CILA) and the The Chartered Insurance Institute (cert CII), I would make sure your Loss Assessor is an accredited member of at least one of these organisations. I would also ensure they are an accredited member of the BDMA (British Damage Management Association).

Avoid ambulance chasing assessors like the plaque, kind of goes without saying.

If you follow the above, this should hopefully weed out the rogue assessors.

Neilhodkin

Replying to Blibble

Loss assessor are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Before signing the mandate the loss assessor should of explained the procedure and the fact that you could cancel the mandate and the complaints procedure.

If your complaint was not dealt within the time required you could of gone to the Financial ombudsman and complained to them.

With any loss accessors who are regulated you can easily check on the FCA register.

So if you feel that you have been dealt with badly I would suggest you find out if the firm you used was authorised, and if so make a complaint and if you are not satisfied with that then write to the financial ombudsman.

tantriclady

If the value of the damage in the property is £10,000 and the loss assessor gets 10% fee (plus other costs often adding up to 30%), they will inflate the claim value to include in their fees and charges. Therefore, you may get £11,000 settlement with say £3000 fees going to the assessor but then your claim value is now £14,000. This means that all your future premiums will be increased to recoup that money back to insurers meaning you will be paying back the extra gained. It's just not worth it overall.


Much better and easier just to get 3 builders quotes in and negotiate with your insurer from there. You may get someone who can do a good job for £9000 and your premiums won't go up so much.



Increasing the value of your claim is not free money!