The Coronavirus and it’s rapid spread has created a number of new challenges for the world and especially the insurance industry. This will continue as the situation changes quickly. As a result we are in an unprecedented situation that insurance carriers, nor any policy forms issued by them, have been tested.
As an agency, we do not have any carriers authority to deny or accept any claims, yet we can give you guidance and client advocacy. Below are some of the guidance tips for answering your questions on coverage or the claim process.
- No carrier will answer coverage questions off of “what if’s” or hypothetical situations. They will only respond to a claim reported. We suggest if you have a definable loss that you submit a formal claim to the carrier
- Since this virus and its effects are so hard to define at this time, we suggest not getting into assumed details on causes of loss and, instead, just state “due to Coronavirus” if the cause of your claim is presumed to because of the virus
- Since these virus related losses could apply to multiple lines of insurance including Property, General Liability, Umbrella, Workers Compensation – Part 1 and Part 2, D&O, E&O, and others, we suggest you put the claim-into multiple lines that may apply
- We suggest you put any claim directly into the carrier as this is a more formal documentation and will be expedited more quickly. Please call our service team with any questions or guidance
- Please recognize the volume of claims and the complexity is such we do not expect any claim to be an easy or smooth process
- Please review any contracts you have with vendors or clients to see if there is any possible remedy within the terms of those agreements
- We suggest you keep records on any losses you have in revenue and extra expenses. Not only for the potential discussion with carriers, but also because we do not know how the state or feds will step in to help and you may have a need to define your losses