After The Fire

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is the world we live in a Marvel of inventive genius to make life richer individual homes and apartment houses factories warehouses stores Office Buildings structures and properties of every size in shape to produce and deliver the goods we've come to expect perhaps the most fantastic thing about it all is that what holds everything together is a mountain of paper spelled out on these papers are the agreements and promises that we live by without these papers chaos would follow among the most important of them are our insurance policies the reasons are clear with the best of planning disaster will sometimes strike sometimes it is due to Nature on the Rampage sometimes it is due to a mechanical failure or an automobile that has gotten out of control or a plane crash sometimes the cause is simply human carelessness perhaps failure to put out a cigarette a serious fire May Never occur to any of us in a lifetime but when it does the consequences are serious how do you protect yourself against such a possibility how do you get back to where you were before the disaster struck most of us try to anticipate these questions and the best answer we have found lies in an insurance policy a piece of paper with promises to reimburse us ful losses most of us carry fire insurance but how many of us have ever read the policy now suppose you do have a fire and you've sustained a serious loss up until now there was always something more pressing to do and when you finish these there was something more pleasant or easier to do than read a policy a policy is a complicated document with some pretty technical language [Music] [Music] and so you filed it away unread or not completely understood now you've had a fire and all you want is to make a fair settlement so that you can get back to normal as it was before and what you're entitled to collect is contained in this contract what are your obligations what are your duties how can you comply with the policy conditions now with everything in a state of confusion you discover that the burden of preparing and presenting the required claim to the the insurance company for the loss is up to you the burden of proving how much you've lost is on you and in due cost you have to meet with the insurance company adjuster to negotiate a settlement from experience we know that insurance companies and their adjusters attempt to discharge their policy obligations that's what insurance is all about protection against loss and damage but even with the best of Will on both sides it becomes clear once the routine questions are out of the way that the problems of a law settlement are difficult now tell me did you have that hole in the roof covered and did you board up the broken windows under the contract you were obliged to if it rained and you sustained additional damage the responsibility was yours how about the plumbing lines did you drain them in freezing weather the lines might burst and you would have to break through the walls to repair them this additional loss is yours the insurance company is not responsible for this damage you mentioned that you've already had the debris cleaned out uh did you save all the items you could identify under your contract you have to establish evidence of your law did you separate the damaged materials from the undamaged to prevent further damage have you wiped and oiled your Machinery what is salvageable what is lost what's the value of a machine that you've used for 6 years how much depreciation or has it appreciated in value is it replaceable at what cost what about smoke or water damage what about overlapping policies what about loss due to business interruption the problems seem endless and even with the best of intentions on both sides the value of the loss is subject to difference of opinion and judgment the very words settlement and adjustment indicate this it may very well be that your claim is correct but you just have to recognize that I can't validate it solely on the basis of this statement where are your purchase invoices where is your complete inventory stating the value and loss of each item and you must do the same thing for the building damages I must have a detailed estimate how can we establish the extent of your claim unless you prepare a properly as your policy requires it becomes clear that the company adjuster has been employed by the insurance company to represent them he is also handling many other claims besides yours you can cannot expect him to do your job and unravel the complicated details of your claim the burden of proving the loss is on you it also becomes clear that the company adjuster is a trained professional who knows all of the various policy forms conditions and requirements and that you do not have the knowledge or experience to cope with the problems without help and to top it all you may have two three or more company jusers to deal with in short you need professional help it is at this point that most people who've had a fire discover that they have a real problem who do you turn to for expert help from experience we know that when we have a legal problem we turn to a lawyer when we need an insurance policy we consult an agent or broker but to whom do you turn for specialized knowledge and experience when when you face the complexities of a fire or disaster loss the answer is here a member of the National Association of public insurance adjusters or napia for short people who have had experience with fire losses such as insurance agents and Brokers Banks and accountants have learned to depend on this symbol for competent loss adjustments members of the National Association of public insurance adjusters are professionally trained to handle such matters they are examined and licensed by the various States in which they practice their profession let's take a look at what happens when you call a nappier member into the picture now right from the outset you have the same professional handling and negotiation of your claim that the insurance company at juster performs for his company acting solely on behalf of policyholders the only purpose of a napia member is to make a speedy and Equitable adjustment for you his client okay now the first thing I want to do is to take a look at the damage we have to shut off the water right away and get that roof covered we better make sure that those machines are properly protected and we have to be careful that none of the things we're going to need to prove the loss are cleaned out with years of experience your nap year public insurance adjuster has learned what to look for and what to do Now with an expert protecting your interests you are free to cope with your normal problems it is necessary to translate the material losses into dollar value it takes substantial effort and experience to arrive at the figures and this is the job that your napia public insurance adjuster handles for you notify the insurance company while I go through the policy then get me Jim Walker on the phone Walker and Stevens I need to tell specifications on the building damage and we've got a lot of temporary repairs that have to be done well I also want to speak to Kelly he has to get over there and sort out the stock and prepare a detailed inventory and I'm going to need figures from D [Music] engineering item by item your napia public insurance adjuster prepares all of the inventories and estimates and compiles your claims many factors such as Co insurance non-c concurrencies Pro R liability and dozens of others must be considered each of them is important in preparing a claim they vary greatly from situation to situation and with the terms of the policies and when your claim is prepared and ready your napia representative meets with a fire insurance company adjuster to reach an agreement on your loss it is now a negotiation between two competent professionals one of them represents the company and the other represents you item by item detail by detail both men have seen the loss studied it and made their evaluations the work is substantially simplified and a speedy and Equitable adjustment is reached and when the laws are satisfactorily adjusted the agreement is subject to your approval the sole objective of your napia public adjuster is to help you solve the many heavy problems and burdens of your loss in our complicated World there is no substitute for specialized training and experience that's what it takes to make our system work and that's what it takes to put it back in shape again when disaster strikes and there is no better trained and experienced source of help available to you than a napia public insurance adjuster that's why a member of napia is the one to turn do as your very first move when disaster [Music] strikes