Mark Chapman, Deputy Chairman of Davies was invited to speak at the Post Magazine's Quarterly Claims Club meeting in September. Topics he covered included:
CILA Paramters Scrutinised
The issue of whether the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters has a role to play as a trade organisation, helping set parameters so that its members manage contractor networks better, was raised during last week's meeting.
But Mark Chapman of Davies Group insisted the association did not have the resource to act in this way: "As it stands, CILA is not a trade body. It represents the interests of the members of the institute. It doesn't consider itself to be a trade body.
"In terms of infrastructure, most people that work within CILA do so part time, it is not set up to be a trade body."
He added: "There have been discussions in the media around whether there is, for certain types of work, a need for a trade body of some sort, and there continues to be talk about one possibly being constructed.
"However, I don't think it's clever to have two separate bodies in the UK representing loss adjusters. It's too small a profession. Conceptually, this idea does not sound very attractive."
Insurers Risking Their Reputations
Insurers are staking their reputation on their choice of contractor networks, Mark Chapman, deputy chairman of Davies Group, warned.
"You're putting your brand on the line," he added. "You have to make sure if you're going to do that, the services you're providing are effective and controlled. The way to achieve that is to make sure you select the right contractor. Make sure you're working with the right people."
However, Mr Chapman said that before contractor networks existed, insurers had always operated in a high risk situation. "That was a very unregulated and uncontrolled environment," he commented.
Mr Chapman also insisted that it was important that insurers with contractor networks have the correct measures in place to measure performance. He said that pricing was also not necessarily a driving factor, and that the most efficient builders, not the cheapest, should be sought.
"As soon as insurers take the responsibility of delivering that service, it has to be something that has rigidity, rules and validation processes attached to it. You need to have as much control of this sort of thing as possible. It's a real reputational risk insurers have taken on," he commented.
Mr Chapman added that giving customers a choice, rather than forcing contractors upon them, was also essential in providing good customer service.
"The cases that go well are when the customer sees it as a good thing. If the customer doesn't want it, please don't force it upon them, it will be nothing but trouble. Having choice is a tool in the armoury", he concluded.
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