Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Important claim info for Taxidermists!

Hi – I just wanted to touch base and discuss some things that will help you tremendously in the event of a loss. I know how your businesses run and I understand that some things aren’t easy to do every time, but trust me, this will save you headaches in the event of a loss.

Inventory everything. Inventorying your items you take in and purchase will make back tracking after a loss much easier.
Back up your inventory list! If you have a fire and your inventory list is in that building then it did you no good.
Supply receipts to all of your customers. If you happen to lose your books in a fire this will help you to take inventory of what was lost.
Keep a client contact list. If you lose valuable info in a fire and you can’t locate your client this only helps your clients lose faith and go to another taxidermist.
Re-evaluate how much supplies and equipment you have. I can’t imagine you would want to go out and replace forms that burned, out of your own pocket.
Re-evaluate building values (if you have one). If your building burns down and you need to replace it, it will cost you more than you think. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard, “I will rebuild it myself and save money”. While you are doing this in the height of gun and bow season, who is doing your taxidermy work?

No one expects to have a loss. No one (unless you have had a loss) really understands how traumatic and draining it is to go through a loss. You need to supply receipts, justify expenses, make an ungodly amount of phone calls, and deal with the stress that comes when your clients realize they lost their trophies. You can’t imagine the heartache and stress this causes. You will not have time to rebuild your building, take care of advertising to let people know you are still in business and still maintain your daily operation. You also can’t imagine the amount of work that goes into a claim. Yes you pay for insurance to handle these things, but only to some degree. You still have responsibility in the event of a loss. The burden of proof is in your hands. If you can’t prove you had something, you won’t get paid on it. Do yourself a favor and make sure you track everything and document your inventory and most importantly, that you have enough coverage to pay for your actual losses. I think you will be surprised if you went item by item and took full inventory of what you have and how much it would cost to replace these items. In most cases an extra $10,000 in property coverage is $20 or less.

Not trying to scare anyone, just trying to help you realize the reality of a claim and how important it is to do the things I stated above. Feel free to contact me regarding your specific policy and I would be happy to discuss it with you. As agents, we always tell you what we offer for coverage but we rarely tell you what to do ease a loss. This is more important than what we offer and I hope you take what I have outlined above into serious consideration.

Hope the season is going well for all of you!

Dan

2 comments:

Contact Information

Trophy Insurance Connection


Rob Schiltz- 914-523-5615
rschiltz@johnmglover.com






What We Do


Hi All - Rob here from your trophy insurance connection. I am an avid outdoorsmen and everybody's favorite insurance agent (I like to think that at least). We insure pretty much anything to do with the outdoors.

Taxidermists

Guides and Outfitters

Rod and Gun Clubs

Game Farms

Power Sport and Boat Dealers as well as Marinas

Merchandise (retail, wholesale and Mfg. of guns, archery equipment, supplies etc.)


My passion is preserving yours.


I developed this blog to answer your questions about insurance, keep my customers up to date on what events I will be at and post important information regarding your industries.


I have links posted. I 'd love to put your related link up there, I just ask that you reciprocate and add my link to your page.


If you have some great photos of hunts, fishing excursions or what you do, I'd love to post them here.


I also welcome your suggestions. I look forward to hearing from you.


Thanks,

Rob






Everything Taxidermy!