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A string of natural catastrophes in the second half of 2017 has sent the insurance industry into overdrive. Loss adjusters throughout North America have their work cut out, cleaning up the devastation left by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the earthquakes in Mexico and the wildfires in California.
Crisis response is an integral part of the insurance industry. Claims adjusters, insurers, brokers and agents are often the first at the scene of a catastrophe after emergency services. The three hurricanes in quick succession in August/September forced the industry to get innovative with its catastrophe response.
Some turned to technology and used artificial intelligence combined with before-and-after aerial photos to speed up the loss adjusting and claims process. Others took to the skies, utilizing drones to make it easier for adjusters to inspect damage
Global insurer Chubb certainly knows the importance of offering bespoke and innovative solutions to tricky scenarios. It had boots on the ground throughout the storm season, helping clients with quick and efficient loss adjusting, risk management and recovery.
In its many years servicing the global property and casualty stage, Chubb has become no stranger to crisis response – and some incidents it has dealt with have been more unusual than others…
Imagine being called out to a 40-ft wide and 30-ft deep sinkhole that opened in a 50-year-old museum and devoured eight rare sports cars from one of the biggest collections of beautifully restored classic cars in the USA.
This was a disaster Chubb leapt to assist with at The National Corvette Museum in 2014. A Chubb claims adjuster from Louisville arrived at the museum within hours of the sinkhole news breaking. He immediately became “a critical part of the team in deciding what to do, how to move forward and what the next steps should be,” explained Wendell Strode, executive director of The National Corvette Museum.
Chubb helped Strode with crisis management and safety scrutiny, making sure the museum was safe after the sinkhole for media and visitors. It helped the usually “calm and collected” museum director who was distracted by a flurry of attention from classic car connoisseurs and media after a tweet from a firefighter with a photo of the museum sinkhole went viral.
The insurer assisted Strode with the “flood of decisions” he was forced to make around whether to remove the remaining cars in The National Corvette Museum’s main atrium and how to stabilize the area. It dealt with safety scrutiny and risk management so that Strode could focus on the narrative going out to the world.
Controlling the crisis story and owning the tale on social media has become an almost instantaneous requirement in any catastrophe event – and it’s something that insurers and brokers can help with. For example, in the worst-hit catastrophe zones this summer, it was the only available form of communication brokers and insurers had with some clients.
With Chubb’s help, Strode was able to reopen the museum to the public the day after the sinkhole was discovered. Public interest was understandably great, and museum attendance numbers shot through the roof [+65%] as people wanted to pay witness to this natural conundrum.
Chubb then extracted the eight priceless vintage Corvettes from the giant sink hole and restored the atrium “sky dome” to its former glory. The insurer also engaged an engineering and construction team to rebuild the museum stronger than before.
“We will get you back to where you were before or better,” a Chubb statement said. “We understand what matters to the insured and we will go above and beyond to exceed client expectations.”
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