Support for Policyholders

Crawford is a licensed provider of claims management services to the Australian general insurance industry. Crawford has been in business around the world for 80+ years.

Our claims professionals are expert in communicating with you to gather information about your loss, interpret your insurance policy, and support your Insurer to make sure you get back to the position you were in prior to your loss, in a timely manner.

Rest assured, we train our people to identify your needs and give you the specific support required, through what can be a very difficult time. However, if you feel any personal circumstance could complicate the fair and timely settlement of your claim, we encourage you to talk to your Crawford claims assessor. We will then make reasonable adjustments to our processes to ensure you receive the fair service that you deserve.

Kicking off the claims process

Once a claims assessor (often called a ‘loss adjuster’ or ‘claims adjuster’) has been assigned to your specific claim, you will be provided with his/her/their direct contact details.

If your situation calls for emergency repairs (often referred to as “make-safe” repairs), then an approved tradesperson will be allocated to you. In instances such as this, you will more than likely hear from the emergency repairs tradesperson prior to your claims assessor being in touch with you.

In the background, your claims assessor will conduct an initial assessment of your claim based on all the information at that point in time and will then be in direct contact with you to help you to understand the next steps. This may include Crawford appointing tradespeople or other experts, requesting additional images, proof of ownership documentation, etc.

Steps you should take now

Please ensure your property is safeguarded from any potential further damage, where reasonably possible. This may include, for example, moving contents items to unaffected areas, or safeguarding valuables.

If any of your contents and/or stock have been impacted, you can help speed-up the claims process by starting to compile a written list of impacted items.

If your contents (including carpets) have been damaged as a result of a weather event, and need to be disposed of to reduce the risk of illness or further damage, or if the local council is arranging clean-up or kerbside collection, you can remove these items. But, it is very important to document the disposed items, take plenty of photos of the items and, where relevant, keep a record of the make and model details. Providing this information at the outset will help the process along.

Please note: The final decision on acceptance, partial acceptance or decline of claims is the decision of your insurer.

• Tips for policyholders – Flood Claims
• Tips for policyholders – Storm Claims
• Tips for policyholders – Fire Claims
• Tips for policyholders – Escape of Water Claims

Scope of Work

Should your claim involve damage to property, it is likely that you will hear the Term ‘Scope of Work’ (SoW) and it will be important that you understand what a SoW is and its role in the claims process.

Cash Settlement

Should a cash payment be contemplated at some point in the process as a method of settlement, either for all or part of your claim, it is very important that you fully understand the implications associated with this settlement method. Please review our ‘Cash Settlement Explained’ fact sheet for full detail here.

Excess

You may need to contribute to your claim by way of payment of an excess. Your insurer will only pay your claim if the claim amount is more than the excess. If your claim is settled by making a cash payment to you, your insurer will deduct any applicable excess from the amount they pay to you. In other circumstances, you may need to pay the excess to a repairer or supplier. When your claim reaches this stage, your Crawford representative will guide you through the process.