At Community Underwriting, we find there are two key incident types that commonly give rise to insurance claims for our Not For Profit clients.
Common Claim Issue #1
The most common claim we receive is for breakdown of freezers, which leads to deterioration of stock.
An issue that often occurs with these claims is that a client will simply dispose of the broken down freezer and replace it, prior to submitting a claim. As they do not obtain a written report (eg. from a suitably qualified tradesman) confirming the cause of damage and whether or not the freezer can be repaired, the claim for the freezer is unfortunately declined by the insurer.
While the client will still be reimbursed for their deteriorated stock, they find themselves out of pocket for the freezer, which is the more expensive component.
Common Claim Issue #2
The other type of claim we find to be relatively common are Voluntary Workers Personal Accident claims.
Here it is important that clients provide their broker with both an incident report and a statement from the claimant detailing the incident.
Clients should also advise the claimants (volunteers) that under our policy Non-Medicare Medical costs are only covered up to 75% of the invoice total. This will avoid claimants becoming upset and raising issues about not being fully reimbursed.
Hints to expedite a claim
The best way to help expedite your claim, whether for one of the above mentioned scenarios or for a scenario that is completely different, is to make sure you have gathered all the relevant key documents prior to claims lodgement.
These include:
- Schedule of Loss (eg. list of damaged / stolen items)
- Proof of ownership
- Written repair report from a suitably qualified party
- Repair / replacement quote or invoice
- Police report in the case of burglary
- Written statement from the claimant in the case of Voluntary Workers Personal Accident claims
For further help or assistance, please contact the Community Underwriting team at any time on 02 8045 2582.
