Variations on a Theme

Ontario Insurance Adjusters Association (OIAA) president Norman McGlashan entered the adjusting profession in the early 1990s based on his interest in an infinite playlist of claims and cases; one decade later, he is hearing variations on a theme.

That theme is split licensing, which the Ontario government started to look into in 2002. The idea was to split adjuster’s licenses to better reflect the specialist knowledge required to handle auto insurance accident benefits claims. At that time, McGlashan was adjusting accident benefits claims for AXA Canada in Toronto, and he also did work in the company’s catastrophic claims unit. The adjuster’s license was not split after 2002. “There was talk of it,” McGlashan said. “We discussed it, but the Financial Services Commission of Ontario [FSCO] ultimately did not do anything formal to split the license. I guess more information was needed at the time to make a proper decision.”

Fast forward to 2010: Mc-Glashan is now at Crawford & Company (Canada) doing third-party administration and risk management in the area of commercial auto claims. Once again, FSCO and the Ontario government want to discuss the fact that adjusters handling serious and catastrophic cases require specialized training to show they have the expertise to handle claims for seriously injured claimants. “In accident benefit claims, the rules are always changing,” McGlashan said of the difference between then and now. “Where we’re at now, we may be at a point where it’s something that we have to do.”

The Ontario government recommended in November 2009 that: “Insurance claims departments need to better focus on the needs of claimants with serious injuries. The Insurance Bureau of Canada, Insurance Institute of Ontario and the Ontario Insurance Adjusters Association could work together to train adjusters on the needs of claimants with serious injuries to reduce exposure to potential allegations of unfair and deceptive acts or practices.” These discussions will no doubt dominate the OIAA’s focus during Mc-Glashan’s term as president in 2010.

McGlashan said the OIAA has already started ongoing discussions with the IBC and Insurance Institute about how to train adjusters to handle serious auto injuries. The OIAA does not have a formal position on the split licensing question and nothing has been carved in stone, but certainly the issue is on the table for discussion. As it stands now, the OIAA committee on which McGlashan now sits has sent a survey to members to canvass opinion on how adjusters would like to receive any potential training related to serious auto injury claims, if it were to be offered.

In many ways, McGlashan’s career experience in adjusting auto claims has trained him well for these discussions. He started adjusting basic auto claims for Allstate in 1990, when a friend told him there were jobs available to those with a university degree. McGlashan had a degree in Political Science and History, and was lured to join Allstate because he liked the sound of the variety that comes with adjusting insurance cases. “I did everything,” he said. “I started at the basic auto claims — basic automobile accidents and repairs to vehicles. And even though those are the most basic claims, now that I’ve done everything, I realize they are a good way to learn how to negotiate with the insureds, with lawyers and with other insurance companies.”

Certainly the political skills came in handy for the negotiation part of the job. Sometimes it’s easier for an adjuster to settle a multi-million-dollar auto insurance claim than it is to convince an insured that their policy covers only a portion of their $1,000 claim. For example, the insured’s car may be 15-20 years old and have well over 100,000 kilometres on it, but as an adjuster “you’re dealing with the insured and he’s saying: ‘I just put new tires on, painted it, I just put a $2,000 stereo in there.'” McGlashan said, painting a picture. “It’s their only mode of transportation, they drive it to work every day, and they’re looking at receipts in front of them for $5,000, $6,000 or $7,000 worth of work that’s put into a car that’s worth only $500. There’s no way those numbers are ever going to match. Those are the hardest negotiations of all.” In those situations, it’s tough for an adjuster to say to the insured that the policy will cover a new paint job for a single door, but not a paint job for the entire car. “Those were the hardest negotiations ever, and it prepares you for everything else,” McGlashan said.

McGlashan has been handling these types of auto claims situations steadily since he first started with Allstate in 1990. About four years later, an opportunity came up to do accident benefit claims full-time at Pilot Insurance, where he worked until about 1998. “And then an opportunity came up to do full-time road claims at Crawford, so I did my first stint at Crawford in 1999,” he said.

In 1999-2000, McGlashan moved to Axa Canada to do accident benefits claims for a company “in a bit more centralized area,” he recalled. Five years later, he went to Sedgwick Claims Management Services (CMS) to move into commercial claims, third-party administration. He continued this line of work in commercial auto when he moved back to Crawford in 2007.

McGlashan first came to the OIAA in 2002 while he worked for AXA Canada in Toronto. The OIAA’s past president at that time, Paul Feron of ClaimsPro in London, Ontario, was responsible for recruiting qualified delegates to the association. He discovered McGlashan through Laurie Walker (the OIAA’s immediate past president), who was the OIAA’s London delegate at the time. Walker knew McGlashan through her work for AXA in London, She suggested to Feron that McGlashan would be a good Toronto delegate. Feron and Walker met with McGlashan and AXA’s regional manager Sharon Clark; together, they convinced McGlashan to become an OIAA delegate.

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Basic claims are a good way to learn how to negotiate with the insureds, lawyers and other insurance companies.