Loss adjusters are employed and paid by insurance companies to represent them and protect their interests – not yours. They will not prepare and present your claim for you; this is your responsibility unless you employ a loss assessor to protect your interests. As well as calculating and preparing your claim, we will negotiate with the loss adjuster to achieve the highest possible settlement.

We are different in many respects, particularly with regard to priority of claims. At OCAD all claims are treated with the same dedication and smaller claims are not ‘relegated’ to the bottom of the pile in favour of larger ones. We appreciate how important your claim is to you and provide continuous help, support and guidance from start to finish. We also deal with the insurance company and their appointer loss adjuster professionally, in a way that many loss assessors do not. Our professionalism generates mutual respect, which helps us deal more effectively with the insurance company and assists in the efficient settlement of claims. We are strongly devoted to handling even the most difficult, complex or contentious claims and we are not deferred by the excuses insurers often use for reducing or rejecting claims.

If you purchased your policy via a broker then yes, they should help so far as is possible. Unfortunately, very few insurance brokers have the time, resources or expertise to manage claims on behalf of their clients, which is why many brokers recommend OCAD.

At the earliest possible opportunity. Particularly in view of the fact that what you do or say at the beginning of a claim may turn out to have serious implications for the eventual outcome. At OCAD we much prefer to be called in from the outset which is when we can be most effective, although we will certainly consider claims that are already under way.

Yes, in some circumstances they can. An insurance policy is a contract, or agreement between two parties. As one of those parties, the insurer can deny the claim if it considers you have not kept to your side of the bargain, if the claim is not covered by the policy, or if it suspects fraud. This does not mean they are correct or justified in doing so, and this is precisely where we come in, to professionally represent you and fight for the claim to be properly settled.

There are no set timescales for claims. Generally, a straightforward, non-contentious claim can take between 2 and 4 weeks to be settled. More complex and hard fought claims can take longer. Our incentive is that we do not get paid until you do, so we can assure you that we will progress your claim as quickly and as forcefully as possible.

We charge a small percentage of the claim value, so unlike most other professionals our fees are directly related to performance. The difference we can make more than offsets our fees. There are no up front fees and we fund our own time, which means we have a strong incentive to achieve maximum claim settlements in the shortest possible time. Our proven experience shows that the settlement we secure for you can be 30-40% more than you would have received without our help. Furthermore, when dealing with rejected and other contentious or complex claims, we can make the difference between you receiving a payment or nothing at all. Our fee usually works out at 10% (ex VAT) of the final settlement amount.

On the rare occasions that it is established that neither your insurers nor any other parties are liable for your losses, we make no charge for our services.

You may well require assistance from other specialists, such as surveyors, fire/flood restoration companies or architects – and, where necessary, you are entitled to claim their fees from your insurers. However, it is very important that the level of fees and their remit are agreed in advance. We will handle all such arrangements for this on your behalf.