LAS Claims launches major loss team

LAS Claims Ltd has announced plans to launch a major loss team this month in response to a retrenchment of the market with other firms cutting staff and costs, Insurance Times can reveal.

The Birmingham-based building claims management business has appointed director Paul Wright to lead the team which will comprise buildings, contents and relationship management experts.

“Our clients are telling us that they would be interested in a proposition which combines our leading edge claims management technology with highly experienced loss adjusters, whose skills we want to put to good use,” he said. 

“Every member of our building and contents teams will be CILA or FCILA qualified and have at least 20 years loss adjusting experience.

“The loss adjusting industry is under pressure for dumbing down its skills base, and that’s one reason why there have been demands for industry regulation. It is, quite frankly, ludicrous not to harness the skills of loss adjusters with 20 or even 30 years experience.”

Wright said that while LAS may be going against the grain, he believed the company had produced a cost effective major loss business model that benefited both its clients and their customers.

“The LAS major loss team is a logical progression for the business, enabling us to extend what we have learned with our current technology-led claims management platform CLASS, and apply it to major complex loss,” he said.

Wright said that removing uncertainty from the major loss process was a key success factor for the new proposition.

“We want to replace uncertainty with predictability, where dedicated teams of loss adjusters have the confidence, experience and capability to make fast decisions, supported by a robust support structure which puts the customer front and centre of the claim,” he said. 

He continued: “Domestic major loss has been sadly neglected in recent years. There is a perception in the marketplace that driving down claims costs has required loss adjusting firms to use inexperienced adjusters in order to remain profitable.

“Inexperienced adjusters make mistakes, and service and reputation suffers as a result. Our technology enables us to use experienced professionals at low cost, so we are very excited by this opportunity.”