Loss Adjusters are appointed by the Insurer and represent the Insurer’s interest.

Loss Assessors are appointed by the Policy Holder making a claim.

Call us as soon as possible after reporting the claim to your insurer.

We will advise and help you through the entire process, from start to finish.

Call 0800 999 5679 anytime

Thermal Imaging – Seeing what the naked eye can’t see. It is the untilization of Infrared technology to find a problem in a building. It is Non Damaging and Non Intrusive surverying to find damp, moisture or perhaps a blocked or leaking pipe within a wall or under the floor without lifting the floor or breaking the wall. Read the Thermography section.

Finding a water leak or blocked pipe within a wall or under the floor can be costly if the wall has to be broken or the floors lifted. Thermography can find the problem without have to damage the property. It is easier and less costly to break a wall or lift a floor at the point of damage, once the problem has been located.

Moisture, mold, inefficient insulation, loss of heat or energy, which can not be seen by the eye can be detected with Thermography.

Infrared technology saves time and expenses when surveying for problems.

Accidental Damage

Unexpected and unplanned damage or harm caused to a property or a person.

This seems obvious, but “accidental” doesn’t have quite the usual meaning for the purposes of insurance. For damage to be judged accidental, it must be clear that you haven’t substantially contributed to the damage by action or negligence.

Suppose you’re carrying a sealed tin of paint through your house. You stumble, the tin flies out of your hand and hits the floor hard enough to burst open. Suddenly, you have a carpet that looks like a Jackson Pollock painting.

This is definitely accidental, and your claim should be accepted. If, on the other hand, you were carrying an open tin of paint with no lid, the Loss Adjuster may judge the damage as partially your own fault and advise the insurance company to refuse the claim.

Aggregate Limit of Indemnity

The maximum amount an insurer will pay for all insurance claims over a set time frame.

Understandably, an insurance company isn’t willing to commit an unlimited fund. Most people only ever need to make one or two claims on an insurance policy, if any, but there are exceptions.

Most policies will include an aggregate limit of indemnity, which will set a figure on the limit they’re liable to pay out in total over a set period. This is usually the lifetime of the policy, but occasionally a different time-scale is specified. If the combined total reaches this cut-off point, the insurance company will no longer pay your claim, however valid.

Assurance vs Insurance

Assurance is against something that will happen; Insurance is against something that may happen.

Have you ever wondered why you have Life Assurance but Property Insurance? That’s because you will die (though hopefully not for a long time), whereas you may never need to claim on your property.

This obviously affects the way in which the risk is calculated, although assessments will still be made to calculate how long you’re likely to live, and therefore how many payments the insurance company can expect to receive. Ultimately, though, they will need to pay out.

If you need any help with your insurance claim, ring us on 0800 999 5679.

Business Interruption

When business productivity is stopped by an unplanned event or disaster, affecting the company’s profits.

If your business has to temporarily stop trading, for instance during repairs following a fire or flood at your premises, a Business Interruption Clause can be activated. Your claim under this clause will normally cover loss of income, and also loss of certain overheads over a specified period of time.

This isn’t always as simple as it sounds, since the insurance company’s Loss Adjuster may not be using the same definitions of costs and overheads as your accountant. Because of this, we’d recommend that you consult both an accountant and an Insurance Broker when determining your level of cover for Business Interruption.

Getting the right level of Business Interruption cover could mean the difference between your business surviving or going under after a disaster. It’s estimated that at least 70% of businesses that suffer a catastrophic insurance claim fold within two years, either because they have insufficient or inappropriate Business Interruption cover, or because they have none at all.

Claims and Underwriting Exchange

A computerised register of information from insurance proposals, claims and renewal forms, shared by insurers as part of their campaign against fraud.

Most people don’t realise that every insurance claim made is recorded in full, whether or not it’s successful. If you have to complete an insurance application form, you’ll find they want to know whether you’ve made a claim in the past three or five years.

False information given here, such as saying you haven’t made a claim within that time when actually you have, could result in a future claim being refused, even many years later.

Co-insurance

An arrangement by which an insurance policy is shared by more than one Insurer.

Your Insurer may, in certain circumstances, choose to spread the risk by reinsuring part of your policy with one or more other insurers. This doesn’t really affect you as the Policy Holder, since you’ll only deal with the Insurer you negotiated the policy with, but it’s as well to be aware of how any insurance policy is working.

Commercial Business

If an insurance policy is taken out by an organisation to cover its business, trade or profession, it’s defined as commercial business insurance. This can include policies for building, contents or any other area the organisation needs covered.

Compulsory Excess

An excess is a part of the claim the customer pays. If this is a condition set by the insurer, it’s defined as a compulsory excess. The amount the excess is set at will be specified in the policy documents when the insurance is taken out. The plus side is that the higher the level of compulsory excess, the lower your premium payments will be.

Contestable Period

If the insurance company believes the customer has in one way or another failed to follow the policy’s terms, they can contest the policy. However, there’s only a limited period during which the challenge can be made, which is called the Contestable Period.

Contribution

On occasion, a loss may be covered under more than one policy — for instance, if you lose your possessions on holiday, you may be covered both by your home contents and holiday policies. In this case, the cost of the claim may be shared between the relevant policies, each making a Contribution.

Coverage

Coverage is, quite simply, the definition of what your insurance policy will or won’t protect you against if you need to make a claim. This isn’t always what you might think it to be, if you haven’t read the small print on the policy.

Declined Risk

A declined risk is a refusal by an insurer to provide insurance for a particular customer or to cover a specific event. This is normally because the customer or the event doesn’t meet particular standards.

Distributor

A distributor is a third party that sells insurance products to customers. This is most often just another name for a broker, though it may cover other types of intermediaries.

Evidence of Insurability

Evidence of insurability is the evidence the insurer requires to determine whether you’re an acceptable candidate for insurance. Typically, this will include your health, your age and your job, but other factors may be relevant as well.

Excess

An insurance excess will be only too familiar to anyone who’s ever had to claim on their car insurance, but it applies to most types of insurance. It’s the first part specified by any insurance policy that the customer agrees to pay, with the insurer paying the rest.

Exclusion

An exclusion is any item or risk specified by the insurance policy as not being covered by that particular policy.

Ex-gratia Payment

Exceptionally, the insurer may make a payment they’re not required to make under the terms of the insurance policy. This is call an ex-gratia payment.

Export Credit Insurance

Export credit insurance is a policy available to exporters, covering them against losses arising from non-payment by their customers.

Exposure

In order to assess the risk, an insurer needs to calculate the potential cost to them in the event of an insured event happening, such as a flood or a fire. This cost is called exposure.

Extended Warranty

You’ve probably bought a product covered by a manufacturer’s warranty and been offered an extended warranty. This is a policy that offers cover for the product over a fixed period after the manufacturer’s warranty has lapsed.

Fixed Asset

A fixed asset is an asset owned by a business that’s intended to be kept and used over a period of several years. This may, for example, include buildings, machinery or vehicles.

Friendly Society

A friendly society is established for the benefit of its members and owned by them, usually to provide life insurance and sickness benefit. This is broadly similar to a mutual insurance company, which is owned by its policyholders.

General Insurance

This is a blanket term for insurance cover for damage or loss, rather than life insurance. The most common types are cover for motor, travel, pet, health and home insurance.

Glass Replacement

This is a clause in your home or motor insurance that allows you to claim for replacement of your windscreen, sunroof, windows, doors, skylights or any other glass.

Gross Premium

This is the total amount you pay for the cover under your policy. It comprises the premium, together with any charges and commission added.

Home Foreign Policy

If you buy insurance in one country to cover the risk of an event in another country, this is called a home foreign policy.

Inception Date

This is the date on which your insurance cover begins, which isn’t necessarily when you arranged the policy.

Indemnity

Indemnity is an undertaking by a person to pay for loss or damage they are responsible for someone else suffering.

Independent Financial Adviser

This is a person or firm qualified to give you independent advice on life insurance, pensions and other investment products. The crucial thing is that they’re not tied to a specific company and must be willing and able to advise on products across the market.

Individual Policy

This is cover for an individual person, as opposed for instance to cover for a couple or a family.

Insurable Interest

This means an interest you have in a property, another individual or anything whose loss, damage or injury would materially affect you. Insurance law specifies that you can only take out insurance for something you have an insurable interest in.

Insurance Company

An insurance company (also known as an “insurer” or a “provider”) is a company that creates insurance products, under which they take on risks in return for payment of premiums. An insurance company may be mutual (owned by a group of policyholders) or proprietary (owned by shareholders).

Insured

The Insured (also known as the Policyholder) is the person covered by the insurance policy.

Insured Turnover

An insured turnover is a type of insurance that covers the amount of income a company makes over a set period of time, taken at an average.

Intangible Assets

Intangible assets are any assets that have no physical form. This includes intellectual property, such as patent rights.

Intermediary

This is any person or firm involved in selling insurance without actually being an insurance company. An intermediary can be a broker, an independent financial adviser, a bank, a comparison website or a trade union.

Irrecoverable Loss

Any loss or damage which, for whatever reason, can’t be recovered, repaired or retrieved is described as an irrecoverable loss.

Key Facts Document

Also known as a key features document, this is a document clearly setting out the main features of a plan or product. The regulator requires an insurance or investment firm to produce a key facts document for each plan or product.

Key Person Insurance

This is a type of business insurance protecting the company against the death of a key employee. A key employee is defined as someone the business depends on for its continued profitability, or even existence. This type of cover provides a sum of money to be used to cover the costs of recruiting and training a successor, as well as paying out for reduced profitability.

Lapse

A lapse can refer either to a situation where a customer stops paying premiums, or else where a policy is not renewed.

Legal Expenses Insurance

An insurance policy that covers either the costs of legal advice or the legal costs involved in pursuing or defending a civil claim is called legal expenses insurance.

Level Premium

A level premium is a payment that is fixed at the same level throughout the lifetime of the policy.

Liability

Liability insurance refers to a range of policy types covering business owners, independent professionals and self-employed people against the cost of compensation claims. These may follow fault of negligence and be brought by employees, clients, customers, shareholders, investors or members of the public. Most liability insurance will also cover the cost of compensation to a third party for personal injury or for loss of or damage to property.

Life of Another

This refers to a situation where the policy’s owner isn’t the person covered by the policy. An example of this is a policy owned by a wife covering her husband’s life.

Lloyds of London

An insurance and reinsurance market located in London which is the biggest in the world.

Loading

In some circumstances, your premium may be set higher than normal — for instance, if your job is dangerous or you have a serious health condition. The increase in your premium to cover this is called loading.

Loss

Loss is either injury to an insured person or damage to an insured property resulting from an accident or misfortune.

Loss Adjuster

A loss adjuster is an insurance professional appointed by your insurer, whose job is to confirm the circumstances of your claim, the extent of the damage and whether or not the claim is covered by your policy. The loss adjuster will advise the insurer on the amount that should be paid out for your claim.

Loss Assessor

A loss assessor (not to be confused with a loss adjuster) is an independent insurance professional who evaluates and negotiates claims on behalf of the policyholder.

Material Damage

Material damage is a term used to describe the physical loss or destruction of property or contents.

Material Fact

A material fact is a fact about you or your circumstances that’s crucial enough to have a bearing on the Insurer’s decision whether to issue a policy, or what terms to set. Misrepresentation or non-disclosure of a material fact can result in your policy being cancelled and/or your claim being rejected.

Mechanical Breakdown

A mechanical breakdown refers to a clause in a policy that covers the cost if a home appliance or motor vehicle breaks down.

Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Database

This is a database used by insurers to detect patterns, such as multiple or fraudulent claims.

Mutual

A mutual insurance company is one that’s owned by its policyholders, as opposed to investors, with any profits either kept within the business or paid to policyholders in the form of a dividend.

National Brokers

National brokers are intermediaries working at a national level, whereas regional brokers work locally. National brokers usually have clients who are corporate bodies and offer services in many different sectors of the insurance market, as opposed to specialising in a particular type of insurance.

Negligence

Negligence is a failure to take proper or reasonable care in doing something, which results in damage or injury affecting either yourself or someone else.

Net

The net value of something is the total value minus any costs related to it.

New for Old

A new for old policy is one under which damaged or stolen possessions are replaced at their original purchase price. Under this type of policy, it doesn’t matter how old or in what condition the item is when you make the claim. This is in contrast with an indemnity policy, which replaces the item at its current value, taking wear and tear into account.

No Claims Discount

Also known as a no claims bonus, this is a clause usually included in motor insurance policies. It refers to a reduction in the cost of a person’s premium at renewal, reflecting a claim-free period of driving. Although it’s very common to include a no claims discount on a motor insurance policy, the insurer has no obligation to do so.

Personal Lines

Personal lines refers to any insurance policy taken out by an individual who’s operating in a private capacity, as opposed to policies for business or professional use.

Personal Money

Personal money is all your financial income and outgoing transactions. This includes what you earn, what you spend and what you save, as well as your assets and liabilities.

Policy

A policy is the insurance cover that’s agreed between the insurance company and the customer.

Policy Schedule

A policy schedule is an outline of the cover provided under an insurance policy. The information it gives will include details about the policyholder and the kind of cover provided.

Public Liability

Public liability insurance covers any claim that might be brought by a member of the public arising from your business activities. It may typically cover the cost of compensation for personal injury, loss or damage to property and death.

Rate

The rate refers to the cost, also known as the premium, to be paid for a specific insurance cover.

Rebuild Value

The rebuild value is the amount it would cost to rebuild a property if it were completely destroyed beyond repair. Most building insurance is based on this figure, rather than on a property’s sale price or market value.

Regular Premium

This refers to a premium that’s due at an agreed time. This may typically be once a month or once a year.

Regulatory Capital Requirement

The regulatory capital requirement is the required amount of financial resources an insurance company needs to hold in order to withstand the risks they’re exposed to, such as falling asset prices or increased liability.

Rules such as the European Union’s Solvency II Directive, which are enforced by financial regulators, determine the minimum amount of capital an insurer needs to hold in order to do business.

Reimbursement

This refers to the payment of money to a customer to replace, repair or compensate for anything covered by an insurance policy.

Reinstatement

If an insured property is damaged, the insurer may have the property restored to its previous condition, rather than paying the policyholder a sum of money. This is what’s meant by reinstatement.

Reinsurance

This is a strategy used by insurers, where they can buy cover from other insurers to protect themselves against large or unexpected losses.

Renewal Notice

A renewal notice is a notice an insurer sends to a customer inviting them to renew a policy.

Reserves

Reserves are the amount set aside by an organisation to cover unexpected expenses, or all regular expenses for a certain period of time. This is typically three to six months.

Responsible Party

This is a common term for someone who’s caused a loss or damage.

Rider

A rider is extra cover added to an existing policy at any point after its original commencement.

Risk

Any event or outcome you can insure yourself against is termed a risk. Common risks include fire, flooding and theft.

Salvage

The recovery in full or in part of the value of anything for which an insurance claim has been paid is described as salvage.

Schedule

A schedule is a document supplied by the Insurer that describes the details of the cover available under your policy, based on the information you’ve supplied.

Solvency II

Solvency II is the EU Directive governing insurance companies. Its various clauses cover valuation rules and capital requirements; risk management and corporate governance standards; reporting and disclosure obligations.

Solvency Ratio

The solvency ratio compares an insurance company’s eligible capital with its regulatory capital requirement. It’s used to indicate the company’s financial strength, as well as its ability to withstand risks like falling asset prices or increased liabilities. The ratio is usually expressed as a percentage, based on the calculation:

Solvency ratio = (eligible capital/regulatory capital requirement) x 100

Statement of Fact

A statement of fact is a form that outlines all the information given to the insurer relevant to a given policy. It’s then checked and signed by the customer.

Subject to Survey

This is a term used by insurers to indicate provisional acceptance of a policy. However, this could change depending on what’s shown by a survey that needs to be undertaken — on a property, for example.

Subrogation

Subrogation means someone taking over an insurance claim originally made by someone else. An example of this could be if you have broken drains that it’s the council’s responsibility to mend. Your insurance company might pay for the repair and then seek to claim the money back from the council.

Subsidence Claim

This is a claim for damage to a building that’s cause when the ground beneath a building sinks, pulling the foundations down with it. This has nothing to do with the building’s weight. The most common cause of subsidence is the ground losing moisture and shrinking, for instance after a prolonged dry spell.

Sum Insured

The sum insured is the value of the insured item or event. This will form the basis for any claim you make on the item or event.

Surety

A surety is a person who takes responsibility for someone else’s debts or promises, guaranteeing the payment of debts or fulfilment of promises.

Surety Bond

A surety bond is a guarantee or promise by a third party, who’s stood as surety for a payment due. The third party agrees to pay a specified amount of money to the person owed if the person who owes the money fails to meet their agreed or contractual obligations.

Tied Agent

Insurance salespeople who can only sell policies for one insurance company known as a tied agent. However, salespeople can be “tied” to more than one company, in which case they’re referred to as “multi-tied agents”.

Total Permanent Disability

If the policyholder of a life policy becomes permanently disabled, some policies will make an immediate pay-out and then terminate.

Trading Result

The trading result is an insurer’s overall profit or loss. This is calculated as the underwriting result plus the investment income.

Underinsurance

Underinsurance is when your insurance cover or sum insured is less than the value of the risk. This means that you wouldn’t receive the full cost of the repair or replacement.

Underpinning

Underpinning refers to a range of techniques for strengthening or deepening a building’s foundations. This is normally to manage the risk of subsidence.

Uninsurable Risk

An uninsurable risk is a risk which no insurer is likely to take on. Common examples include risks that are inevitable (e.g. the death of a terminally ill person), gradual (e.g. rust or corrosion) or involving something against the law.

Utmost Good Faith

Utmost good faith describes an essential principle in insurance, under which both insurer and policyholder agree neither to withhold information nor to provide false information that could affect the policy in any way.

Valuables

Your valuables are the items you own that have a monetary value. Jewellery and painting are examples, but there’s a wide range of valuables.

A Public Loss Adjuster is the same as a Loss Assessor (Another name). They represent the Insured when making a claim for compensation on their Insurance company. The Loss Adjuster works on behalf of the Insurance company.