Horological Meandering

whit
558

• Show profile
• Show other posts

Insurance.

Leaving the self-insured topic and focusing more about an insured piece which has been stolen. Having a detailed description of the item with reference numbers, etc. is all well and good but how is the claim handled? If you purchased the watch new, do you expect them to replace with a new piece or write you a check for the cost of a new piece? Exactly how is the insurance company (adjuster) going to handle this? That is the important question to have answered. If you bought a new piece and they attempt to settle by establishing a value based on the lowest price of a used piece they found on the net, would that be satisfactory?
An example, I had a client who purchased 2 diamond and emerald bands, new of course by one of the finest manufacturers in the world and naturally pretty expensive. She broke a few of the emeralds and brought it in for repair. The emeralds were small squares which had to be calibrated for size and then of course, matched for color. Sent it to the manufacturer and got an estimate of $1600. The insurance company sent a copy of our statement of value to one their "replacement/repair" folks who gave an estimate of $900. The adjuster contacted the insured and told him they would either pay $900 or have their folks complete the repair. He was a little more than confused and upset at their settlement of the claim, and by the way, the replacement folks had never seen the ring to assess the damage or the work required to restore the ring. In the end, we had the manufacturer do the work only after letting the adjuster understand that if it wasn't up to the standards originally (like kind and quality), they would have to do it over and over until correct which would have been a pretty costly adventure for them. My client expected the repair to be completed by the original manufacturer without hesitation and was none too pleased with the two week going back and forth with the insurance company.
My point in this is you need to know how the claim is going to be handled. Most folks just add the items to a schedule and go on their merry way until a claim is made and what they assumed would happen was far different what did happen. Ask questions and probe into the manner in which the insurance company is going to satisfy the claim. Knowing before prevents a lot of frustration if a claim is ever filed.