When a disaster occurs in which you lose your business or it is partially destroyed to the point at which you are unable to operate without substantial repairs, you can fall back on your business interruption insurance policy. You never know when a disaster will strike, which is why it is essential for all business owners to have this type of policy in place. The hurricanes that devastated the coasts of Florida, Louisiana and Texas in recent years have brought many businesses to the point of extinction, but with business insurance and business interruption policies in place they were able to recoup their losses.
The first thing you think when a disaster occurs is that you will not be able to recover financially. The task of filing a disruption claim may be stressful for you, but the insurance providers have representatives in place that will walk you through the process to make it as effortless as possible for you. However, in order to make sure that you collect on your claim you must be able to provide all the documentation that the insurance provider requires.
There are experts who are able to give you helpful advice in this area of submitting a disruption claim following a disaster. They do say that it is better to create a team for the submission of documents, rather than submit the claim on your own. Your insurance representative, your accountant and your legal counsel are the professionals you need to have on your side in such a situation.
Make sure you have everything documented in writing or backed up on a floppy disk. This includes a record of your inventory and the replacement costs associated with each item. You should also keep a record of every conversation that you have with your insurance provider regarding the submission of your claim complete with the name and position of the person with whom you speak.
Locate your business interruption policy and read it carefully, if you haven’t already done so. It is important that you pay particular attention to the small print because it is here that you may find some of the exclusions of the policy. Make sure that you adhere to all the specifications outlined in the policy to ensure that you have everything in order before you do make any claims submission.
Take pictures of the damage and submit these along with your disruption claim. If you haven’t submitted pictures of the business when it was in operation when you purchased the policy, you should also submit these along with the claim so that the insurance provider can see the extent of the damage.
If you do follow the proper procedure outlined in your insurance policy and cannot get any satisfaction from your insurance provider, you should contact your state insurance regulatory department.