why ever bill the insurance WDR guys

[steve g]

while helping a buddy of mine with a favor to an independent adjuster, we talked to him about the state of the industry, in particular I asked why is it so tuff to include the contractors name on the check, since it protects everyone. his response was the insurance does not care if the contractor gets paid, they flat out just don't care. so with that said I have been doing some thinking, what is the purpose of ever sending the bill to the insurance company first?? by doing this it gives the insurance company negotiating power to try and reduce our charges, it also seems to often times take forever to get paid, we are not getting our names on the check in most cases, (farmers told me they can't do it) so what benefit is it, no name on check, reduced and or whining about the bill, no direct pay, and it certainly is not speeding up our getting paid, i recently waited 2 and a half months for an adjuster to finally issue a check, even though I emailed them wondering where the check is at, atleast twice a week. so I am handling things on a case buy case basis, with farmers, the customer will be turning the bill into them, if they don't wanna pay something, THEY get to explain why they are not paying for something strait to the insured. in fact with the insured calling the adjuster about payment of our bill it may get us paid sooner. F it I say.

 

[dealtimeman]

I agree and that is the way we do it for most part as we are not prefferred vendors and for right now do not want to be pv.

 

[-JB-]

that is why i stopped doing WDR

 

[Supersucker]

It has to do with the company's responsibility to the policy holder and the fact that they do not want to get in between any dispute the PH may have with their chosen contractor.

I had one at Gustov where the carrier had payed for damage from Katrina. The house had issues with settling but they had paid under wind damage to remove all siding, trim, plaster etc to straighten the frame and then replace all the siding plaster etc. w/ new ( about $80,000) Since the work had not been completed there was not much to pay for on the minor leakage due to Gustov, but the lady had given all that prior money to some douche bag handyman.

As for preferred vendor programs, they come & go as the company finds that sending a good adjuster will get the insured a proper amount & prevent bogus charges. My favorite tactic I love to hate is when you have a water backup loss with a $10,000 limit and the "Professional Restoration Contractor" uses up the entire limit when it could be done for less and leave the PH a little money for their damaged contents.