Life happens – the front window of your shop breaks or a pipe bursts in your storage room, damaging a significant portion of your product. Whether it’s a simple fix or a major problem, incidents like these can affect your business’ operations.
When life happens – and it inevitably will – you can work with your insurance provider to file a claim and get your business back to its pre-loss condition. How familiar are you with the process of filing a small business insurance claim, though?
In this blog, we’re going to walk you through, step-by-step, of the entire claim process so when the time comes for your small business to do so, you know what to expect.
- Your Small Business Experiences a Loss
Like we mentioned above, the unexpected can happen, causing damage to your business. In insurance terms, this is known as experiencing a loss, and often can prevent you from operating your business until it’s addressed.
- You Call in A Small Business Insurance Claim
Don’t wait! When you do experience a loss, it’s important to call in your small business insurance claim as quickly as possible so your provider can investigate properly, and so you can get your business back to pre-loss condition quickly.
This is known as “preservation of evidence” in insurance and simply means the insurance provider will have as accurate of information as possible because the details of the loss are still fresh.
- Your Insurance Company Contacts All Parties Involved
In the instance that there are third parties involved in the loss, your insurance provider will contact anyone who was involved as part of obtaining all the details of the event. This step in the process of a small business insurance claim is meant to ensure the provider has as much information as possible in order to properly investigate the claim.
- Confirm There’s Active Coverage
Aside from being mandatory in order to operate, insurance is extremely helpful in protecting your business.
That being said, your insurance provider will need to confirm your policy has the necessary coverage in relation to the small business insurance claim you are filing. For example, if the loss occurred in Texas but your business is only covered in Oklahoma, the insurance provider will be able to determine that for you.
- Investigating the Claim
Now that your provider has confirmed you have coverage for the claim and they’ve received all the details from every party involved, they can begin investigating the claim. This step determines if the insurance provider needs to contact any additional witnesses or hire professional experts to review the damages and the causation of the damages.
- Determining Liability
This step is simply the insurance provider determining who involved is at fault for the loss.
- Damage Review
This phase is when the provider reviews receipts or invoices, applies depreciation if needed, or conducts research on a niche business in order to supply accurate valuation of the damages incurred.
- Resolution of a Claim
Simply put, this is when you would receive payment for the small business insurance claim and is the final step in the filing process!
There you have it! A step-by-step process of what you can expect when filing a small business insurance claim.
We now handle all Benchmark underwritten claims in-house and have our dedicated claims team for our other programs with direct claim oversight provided by Coterie Insurance. You can reach our claims team by contacting claims@coterieinsurance.com with any questions. We’re here to help you!
