Chose Your Words Carefully

April 16, 2010

In the book, All the President's Men, there is a place wherein Richard Nixon is walking in an underground tunnel between buildings in Washington, D.C. and he looks up at the walls and comments something to the effect that the walls were dingy. Several days later he is walking the same walkway and there are all kinds of workers painting and cleaning the walls. You draw the conclusion that he was surprised because, as some have stated, he just didn't understand how to manage his own power.

Insurance company leadership does understand their power. That is why they can create such fear in their employee claim representatives when they point their finger in his or her face and say, "pay only what is due, not one penny more."

Industry Trade Magazine such as CLAIMS Magazine routinely carry ads saying such things "Find out for sure if it WAS lighting". Articles often include the perception that insureds are trying to rip off their insurer.

Understanding this lets us know where the claim representative we are dealing with is coming from and that is why we must CHOSE WORDS CAREFULLY.

When someone talks to a claim representative, that person should always avoid telling the claim representative that "they are sorry" because that may raise a flag that you may have had something to do with the loss. Further, if you tell someone matter of factly exactly what happened, when doing so involves a guess, you may find the red flag going up even higher.

I have found that using the words "loss caused by water" is another way to get a claim off on the wrong track. Water is generally NOT a peril. Water is NOT the cause of an insured loss except in such rare cases under some policies that involves collapse. You may recall that this was the big issue in Hurricane Katrina when a few insurers hired engineers who wrote bogus reports that said the loss was caused by water and not wind thereby helping the insurer avoid payment of a legitimate claim. Water driven by Wind is generally a covered peril. Water by itself is not.

The same issue of water as a cause of loss of interior damage in a home. The cause of a loss involving water damage is not water itself, it is a pipe break, or a failure to a system, or a toilet line break or a something along these lines.

As you consider things to say to your claim representative, if you don't know, don't make like you do and, whatever you do, tell the truth. Besides being a matter of integrity, not telling the truth can get your claim denied.

Or --- you can just retain a public adjuster. We know words to say and words to avoid.