Resolved Question

Can anyone advise on insurance claims?

We have today had a burst water pipe at our shop. We are insured for our stock and our landlady is insured for the damage to the property etc. Alot of our stock has been damaged and ruined. We have notified our insurance (this is obviously a commercial policy). We have never had to make a claim before so I was wondering what is a good guide to how long they take to pay out? We cant reopen cos we need to replace what has been damaged so therefore we are losing more money?

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It could take a couple of weeks before the settle the claim and a week to pay it. If it starts to take too long, consider hiring a "public claims adjuster" or "public adjuster" to assist in negotiating for you.

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Other Answers (2)

• ~~This varies greatly from one carrier to another. With State Farm they assessed the damages and a check was written immediately. We also had a loss of business rider in our commercial package which paid all employees and average income loss in cases like this.
  
  You need to ask your agent this right away, and hopefully you also were covered with loss of business as well. Best of luck!!!

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• Take as many photos ,stills not digital and a video if you can. as you can of all the damage every where , take a full stock take of all damaged stock ,equipment , fixtures and fittings , personal property ,, every thing that is damaged . you need the photos as proof if you move any thing in a clean up , keep everything that you move , have all receipts for lost stock if food say and you just have to dump . this is proof of purchase , also you need a quote from a reg. contractor for all building repairs , you need to know how much NOW that all your equipment is going to cost ,,
  you need to tell a white lie here as to its age ,as the older it is the less you will get to replace it
  does your policie cover loss of trading .loss of wages for staff you, your family, your neighbours were they affected by your misfortune ? they will be claiming from you too. ? the accessor will be very prompt , but will be trying to get you to settle as fast and as cheap as possible.
  
  This is where you have to sit down and realise that you are only going to get one cheque to sort out this mess, YOU HAVE PAID YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY .FOR COVER ,NOW ITS PAY BACK ,JUST BE HONEST IN THE FIGURE , HE WILL TRY TO KNOCK OFF MONEY ,AND WILL HAVE ALL THE TALK ,BUT YOU NEED AS MUCH AS YOU CAN AND MORE TO GET BACK UP AND RUNNING .
  
  THERE SHOULD BE A NATIONAL HELP LINE .AND A GRANT AVAILABLE TO GET YOU STARTED which will be deducted from final cheque

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