The new missions of the expert specialist in theft are oriented towards the expertise of the contents "Furniture and precious objects". Following various losses linked to all the guarantees of the multi-risk home insurance contract, the Theft Expert figures all the categories of furniture contents.
These last years, we note an evolution of our trade. Indeed, the Expert Evaluator and Insurance specialist theft is more and more missioned in binomial with the building expert. He brings his competence on the evaluations of the FURNITURE and PRECIOUS OBJECTS. In addition to theft claims, he is in charge of claims related to fire or natural disasters.
The latest certification, issued by CNPP http://www.cnpp.com/Groupe/Presentation-CNPP in 2015, concerns the "theft specialty". This term marks the link with the guarantee of the insurance contract. The CNPP, certification body and the Company of Experts http://www.expert-cea.com/ train about forty experts. In the end, they hope to obtain the "theft specialist" certification. In practice, the mission entrusted by the insurance company to the theft expert consists of 3 steps. First, he determines the circumstances. Then, the expert verifies the risk and the means of protection required by the contract. Finally, he organizes the eventual liability claims and evaluates all the stolen contents based on the documents transmitted by the insured.
Recently, the request of some insurance companies and societies is oriented towards an intervention of the expert on other types of damages. This is how he is called upon following a fire, natural disasters or water damage. Other guarantees intervene regularly like a fact engaging the civil responsibility of the insured... In short, to evaluate the states of losses of furniture with strong stakes, to quantify the losses, on the objects of art or invaluable damaged following a guaranteed disaster, the expert specialist VOL intervenes.
Given the complexity and diversity of situations encountered in cases of theft, the drafting of reports can only be very precise in the description of the premises and the means of protection required by the companies, as well as on the circumstances that may or may not bring into play such and such a guarantee, and finally in the analysis of the supporting documents for each item stolen.
The insured who has just been the victim of a theft is not ready to receive the visit of an expert who imposes a visit of each room and the usual verifications. In a state of emotional shock or under preconceived notions of the services they expect, they are not receptive. At this moment, we ask you to quickly provide a detailed, justified and quantified statement of the losses. This means that you have to write a precise list of each stolen object and bring the proof of its ownership and or existence and or value.
The expert's approach requires a great deal of pedagogy and patience in order to allay fears and to assert his independence on both the company's and the insured's sides with the aim of arriving at a precise score. From the beginning, the search for trust is fundamental to obtain the cooperation of the victims who express a written claim to their insurance company.
On theother hand, the analysis of the insurance contract is fundamental when we know that many differences exist between companies at all levels in terms of theft coverage and as examples:
Note the real headache for the watch that can be classified in all categories: jewelry (according to some companies whatever the material), valuables (according to the unit price sometimes) or furniture (if it is steel with a unit value less than an index).
The difficulty for the expert is not so much to read the contract as to manipulate all the contracts of all the companies in an ever decreasing amount of time, sometimes even the brokers or agents who market the contracts get lost! So what about the insured who discovers these legal notions at the time of the event?
The search for prices in new value or in average value on the second-hand market or in average price of public sale differs according to the contracts. Visiting auction rooms or municipal credits is a complement to subscriptions to specialized websites for the most common objects; the question of the specialist arises for collectibles or rarer objects (paintings, stamp collection, weapons, wine...). The initial training in art history allows to know the object and to situate it in an era. Very often a training in gemmology and jewelry, allows to deepen the question of the precious objects and of the showcase. Other schools allow to deepen each speciality.
The expert is thus brought to verify the prices on the goods most frequently stolen from the private individual such as jewels and objects in precious metals. The contents of furniture include many categories such as for example: luxury brand watches, clothing and leather goods. In addition, valuable objects (paintings, art objects), do not have the same approach as computer equipment or telephony. More recently, in the outbuildings and vehicles, we value professional equipment such as tools or ATVs. The price of all these goods can be as well tended to the rise as to the fall.
During the latest natural disasters that hit Cannes and its surroundings on October 3, 2015, some companies wanted to provide some of its insureds with a more special service. In fact, it is necessary to help the insured in the constitution of the statement of losses. Unfortunately, too few people prepare for the scenario where everything is swept away and devastated in 3 hours. But it has happened. What to do? The experts had to deal with each case according to the particularities of the contract, i.e. according to the options subscribed before the loss.
For the most important files, the furniture expert accompanies the building expert to explain how to prepare the loss statement. We organize the operations of pointing on the spot and checking the attached justifications. Indeed, as in all declarations, the company cannot exclude fraud ..... In this respect, our experience can be useful.
For some policyholders, the main issue was to save the collection of paintings, lithographs or archival documents in paper form. This is why the intervention of specialized companies takes place from the beginning of the mission. The coordination with the building expert favors the level of satisfaction. It is a question of putting all the documents in vacuum rooms or containers. Indeed, there are procedures designed for "decontamination". For example, specialized companies carry out cleaning or art restoration. In particular, silk fabrics, or a set of furniture, carpets, legs of period furniture will be treated with method by professionals.
