The aim of loss adjusting in insurance is to validate an insurance claim when it is made and ensure that the compensation offered to the party that has suffered a loss will be sufficient. And that’s if it’s proven to be valid! It’s also a means of identifying any potential fraudulent activity related to the claim before any payment is made. Understandably, insurance companies want to be very sure that the claims they pay out for are genuine!
The third party
Providing services for the insurance firms, loss adjusters are the ones who can confirm for an insurer whether or not a claim is valid as an impartial third party with both in-depth knowledge of insurance and application of technical expertise.
The loss adjusters are the detectives of the insurance world. They will travel out to a site for which a claim is being made, carry out various tests, interviews to put the pieces together of what has happened to merit the claim, and gather an understanding of the extent of any damage. They must then provide judgement on a number of issues based on their evaluations and conclusions of the site, such as whether the claim is valid, the extent and total costs of the damage, and if the insurance policy will sufficiently cover the damages.
Do you have the nose for loss adjusting?
It’s understandable then that the people who work in this field have highly analytical minds. They must be rational in collecting and assessing the facts, and have a thorough understanding of technical issues. Some loss adjustors, for example, specialise in construction.
A career in this field will eventually call for a lot of time out of the office, travelling to different sites and liaising with insurance companies. Graduates who follow a loss adjusting career will mostly be based in the office, getting to grips with the technicalities of the industry and studying to get a professional qualification under their belt before being unleashed into the world of on-site investigation.
Salaries begin at around £18,000 upwards, and hit the region of £30,000 to £40,000 or more depending on experience. This field is open to most degree disciplines, although those with more technical expertise such as in construction may be favoured by some firms.
For years I have studied American finance regulations. All the information in this blog is sourced from official or contrasted sources from reliable sites.
Salesforce Certified SALES & SERVICE Cloud Consultant in February 2020, Salesforce Certified Administrator (ADM-201), and Master degree in “Business Analytics & Big Data Strategy” with more than 13 years of experience in IT consulting.