Help Your Clients File Insurance Claims for Computer Equipment

Residential and business computer repair clients have mishaps that result in damaged, destroyed or missing equipment. Clients rely on their computer repair professionals as technology experts to help file insurance claims. Helping clients with insurance claims gets them back up and running and keeps them loyal to you.

Types of Mishaps You Can Help Clients With

The insurance loss that most people think of is fire. However, in my practice, the most common type of claim I see is liquid damage. The client is at a coffee shop, someone spills a drink, and the rest is history. The entire system could be history, or they could just have sticky keys. Here’s a short list of the type of claims you can help your clients with:

• Dropped computers – cracked screens, broken power jacks, damaged hard drives.
• Theft and loss – stolen with other items, taken by an ex-employee, left at an airport or cafe.
• Liquid damage – spilled drinks, pipes bursting, flooded basement, overflowing dishwasher.
• Power surges, lightning – electricity damage is unpredictable and can hurt any component.

Those events are typical primary events. Don’t forget that a computer or other technology you service could be part of another loss event as the insurance people like to say.

• Fire – the computer may not have melted, but may be damaged by smoke, water, electrical surges that happen during the fire or when it’s being put out.
• Auto accidents – if the laptop was in the car, it could be cracked. Other times it’s stolen from the car in the confusion after the accident.
• Slip and falls – if someone is carrying the laptop when they fall, it can get damaged.

If a primary event happens to a client, they’ll probably call you. They may not think of the secondary event. That’s where you can remind them. Always empathize with the loss and let the client talk about it. During that conversation, since they are your client and know you do computer repair, ask them if they had any damage to the computer equipment. In my experience, they may not even think about it. They rely on you to predict computer problems, so this is a natural extension of that responsibility.

Types of Insurance Coverage Your Client May Have

Each client will have a different situation, but most will fall into one or more of these categories. To help your client, you need to understand the basics and ask them questions.

• Basic coverage for Business, Homeowners, or Renters. This section is a catch all policy. The insurance policy has a deductible that covers the loss at their home or business. If the loss is small, the client won’t make the claim. This is the insurance most people think about when they ask “Am I covered?” Renter’s insurance often has a much smaller deductible and covers more mishaps.
• Business Interruption Insurance. These policies get the client up and running when they have a significant loss. These policies frequently cover data loss. Even if it’s just one computer, data recovery can cost thousands of dollars. The client is only responsible for the deductible.
• Scheduled Item Insurance/Rider. This type of coverage is usually for residential clients. Any listed items or electronics are covered under a separate deductible. The general deductible doesn’t apply. For example, my homeowner’s insurance deductible is $1,000. Scheduled electronics are $50 and cover “all perils”. If I drop my laptop, it’s covered minus the deductible.
• Parent’s Insurance for College Students.If a client’s child is in college (or your client is a college student), basic insurance extends to them. Insurance companies realize the parents are probably paying for the computer, so a student’s possessions are covered.

Individual insurance policies are unique, but these are general guidelines to speaking the language and starting a conversation with your client.

How to Ask For This Work From Your Client

First you need to have an empathetic conversation with your client. The next part of your responsibility to them is to chat about insurance. If your client is like most insureds, they bought a policy years ago and didn’t remember their coverage.

I recommend you have the client call their insurance company and ask if they have coverage for the loss. Insurance agents don’t mind the call. After all, they’re in business too. If the client doesn’t have coverage, the agent might want to sell them some. If the client didn’t realize they have coverage, they’d thank you for suggesting the call. You saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I don’t recommend “cold-calling” people you hear had a loss. If you read a business was robbed, don’t stop by randomly with your business card. Both business and residential customers don’t like so-called ambulance chasers right after a loss. You’re welcome to bring it up computers if the topic comes up naturally in conversation if you’re already there. For example, if you’re at the business and they mention a fire and theft, you can ask if the computers are okay. If they don’t inquire further drop it. Sometimes though they’ll ask “Do you work on computers?” That’s your opportunity to make a sales pitch. It all depends on your networking skills.

What to Bill the Client For

Most insurance companies won’t take the client’s word for the computer loss. The insurance adjuster is the person that determines coverage based on the policy, not the agent. They want a professional like yourself to estimate the damage. The insurance company needs to know what’s wrong and see if the policy covers that. Even if the loss is obvious like a melted lump of plastic and metal, the adjuster doesn’t know if it had an 80 gig hard drive or a 500 gig SSD. Invoices may not be enough for the adjuster. The adjust doesn’t have the technical skills to know if the client’s invoice matches the covered computer.

If you haven’t met the client before or don’t have accurate records, you’ll need to make an educated guess about the computer. In these situations, your first goal is to find a model or serial number. If you can find that, you’ll be able to determine specs of the system. If the client made any upgrades, you’d need to document anything non-standard for that system.

After you report on what the computer is, the adjuster wants to know what’s wrong with the computer. The way you write these reports is critical in making sure your client gets paid. Observe and report on everything you see. Run diagnostics on the system and check the Event Viewer. Avoid trying to determine if the problem is related to what the client is insured for. If you see a cracked screen after a fire, report you see a cracked screen. Heat can cause screens to crack, so don’t assume it was dropped.

Don’t limit yourself to computer problems. Observe and report everything. Even if you don’t see water damage, do you see water spots on the screen? Use all your senses. Does the case feel greasy? That could be soot. What about the smell. Do you smell mold or burning plastic? The insurance adjuster needs to know that. Some computer problems, as we know, are intermittent, so it might not show up on diagnostics.

Your goal is to get the client paid for the loss. If you don’t see a problem, use your industry experience to write about what a typical experience is. A laptop that was dropped and had a cracked screen could have a diagnostic that passes. Neither you or the client would trust a hard drive in a dropped laptop. I always write in the report something like “I could not find immediate damage to the hard drive. In my professional experience an impact that damages the screen probably damaged the hard drive. I recommend replacement of the hard drive.”

How To Get Paid

Your diagnostics and research are fully billable to the client. Even if you’re an MSP under contract, the insurance company may cover your work. They won’t pay a retainer that covers other work. Give the client a full and detailed report of your findings. They may want you to work with the adjuster directly, but still send the client a copy. Let them know the work you did.

How you collect is your decision. MSPs may apply it to the retainer. Break-fix clients should get paid by the client. Don’t wait or assume that you’ll get paid by the insurance company. They usually won’t write a check to your business. They write the check to the client. If the client wants to wait until they get paid by the insurance company, that’s your choice. Treat this like any other invoiced client. If you don’t typically invoice them, I suggest collecting payment at the time of service. The insurance company may not cover the loss. Then you’re on the hook for the client’s bill if it’s pending insurance coverage.

How to Get More Opportunities Like This

Your primary source for this type of work is your existing clients. Let them know you can help them with insurance losses. For their sake, we all hope our clients don’t suffer a loss. When they do, get to know the insurance agent. The insurance agent can refer you to do evaluations for the agent’s other clients. This isn’t just a source of immediate business doing the evaluations. If the agent introduces you to someone, that could lead to a new business or residential client for you.

This type of work isn’t predictable, but it’s reliable. These situations are a true example of one person’s loss is another person’s gain.

Written by Dave Greenbaum