A named storm crosses the country on a Thursday. By Monday a practice that usually opens four claims a month has opened fourteen, the phone has not stopped, and every one of those policyholders expects the same attention as the one you took on in a quiet week. Surge is when a loss assessing practice makes its reputation or loses it, and the difference is almost entirely process. Here is how to run a surge without dropping a file, and what to set up before the next one.
The surge problem is not the claims
Fourteen storm claims are, individually, ordinary: roof, fence, water ingress, a ceiling down. The problem is the simultaneity. Fourteen first-notification calls in two days, fourteen inspections to book while contractors are also flat out, fourteen insurers to notify who are themselves in surge and answering nothing. The claims are easy; the queue is hard.
Before the storm: five things to have ready
- An intake form on your website. Name, address, insurer, policy number, cause, a few photos, uploaded by the policyholder on their phone. It opens the claim at first notification with the basics already in, and it takes the call off your line.
- A welcome message that sets expectations. Sent automatically on intake: what happens next, how long inspections are taking this week, how to send documents. Written before the storm, when you are calm.
- Self-booking for inspections. Open the slots you can physically do (and no more), and let policyholders pick. Reminders go out without you.
- Template notifications to insurers. Appointment notified in two clicks with the claim reference, not a fresh email each time.
- A board you can read. Six stages, one card per claim. In surge, the board is the only way to know what you have.
During: the daily routine
Morning, ten minutes. Read the board left to right. New claims with no inspection booked; inspections done with no scope started; scopes submitted with no chaser sent. Those three gaps are where surge claims get lost.
Triage honestly. A family with no roof comes before a fence. Say so to the fence, in the welcome message and on the portal, with a date. People accept a queue they can see.
Photograph on site, upload on site. In surge you may do five inspections in a day. The photographs that are not on the claim by the time you leave the driveway are the ones you will mix up.
Let the chasers run. Insurers in surge are slow; this is the week the day 3, 7 and 14 sequence earns its keep, because you will not remember fourteen clocks. Keep the day 14 escalation as a decision, not an automatic send; some delays in a declared event are genuine.
Say no to the fifteenth. Every claim you take beyond your capacity damages the fourteen you have. A referral to a colleague is better business than a file that stalls.
After: the surge tail
Storm claims settle in a wave three to six months later, together, when everyone is tired of them. The practices that come out well are the ones whose files are complete: photographs with dates, the contractor’s first quote, every chaser logged. Set a weekly review of all surge claims still open after 90 days, and treat each one as a stalled claim with its own escalation.
What software changes
None of the above requires software, and all of it is easier with it. The intake form that opens the claim, the welcome message, the self-booking, the chasers, the stalled-claim alert and the board are standard parts of a purpose-built system; in ClaimFlow they are switched on from the first day, and the portal absorbs the “any news?” calls that otherwise double in a surge. The practice that sets this up in a quiet month runs the next storm at twice the volume with the same people.
Further reading
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