Overview:

Today, we’re going to draw the curtain back and hopefully give you the information you didn’t know you needed. Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite topic: claims. But wait, this isn’t your average blog about making sure to practice common sense and safety. In this blog, we reached out to an internal source to get you insider information that you can use. Our dealer customers span the United States and face a myriad of risks and risk levels. In light of all that, let’s jump into the world of claims and risk analysis!

Who is Allison Dorco?

Allison Dorco started working for JT Bates Group over three years ago as a compliance service administrator for StraightDocs™. Throughout her time here, she has shown her skillset to be increasingly valuable and has been promoted to her new role of Claims Advocate and Risk Analyst. In this new position, Allison gives us insights into the heavy equipment claims world and how she advocates for our equipment dealers.

We interviewed Allison about how she operates within the company and strives to advocate for our REP dealers.

Risk Analysis

In the equipment world, managing risk well is what distinguishes a good rental program from an excellent rental program. We think of risk analysis as high-stakes relationship management. It’s relationship management because there are at least three players involved (the dealership, JT Bates Group, and the carrier), and it’s high-stakes because one huge claim or “death by a thousand small claims” can have a significant financial impact.

JT Bates Group: “How do you help our dealers manage their risk?”

Allison: “Well, first, we are monitoring their risk with the carrier. We make sure that the claims they turn in are the proper type. We had one partner that submitted a claim and the maximum payout was only going to be a couple of hundred dollars. So, I spoke with them and told them that the carrier does evaluate how many claims each dealer submits, and allowed them to evaluate how they wished to move forward with the claim.”

JT Bates Group: “So, what was the dealer’s response?”

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Allison: “First and foremost, we will absolutely submit any claim that the dealer wants. My job is to step in on behalf of the dealer to ensure their standing with the carrier remains high. Because when the claims from the dealer are lower, the risk of a rate increase drops significantly. In this specific instance, the dealership chose to forego submitting a claim with a minimal payout in order to maintain their high standing with the carrier.”

Takeaway

Allison and our claims team are truly on your side. This can take many forms, but one form is that we advocate for your dealership.

Accidents happen, and claims need to be covered. However, when we interact with dealers who understand the delicate balance between claims, risk, and relationship management, we can champion your dealership to the carrier. So, even if you had a higher than average claims rate, our team is doing its best to make sure your needs are met.

Resources

Monitoring our dealers’ claims and types is only one side of the coin. Allison is also passionate about equipping dealers with preventative suggestions and solutions.

1. When questioned about instances where dealers experience an abundance of claims, she said, “We’ve had dealers who have had multiple fire damage claims in a short amount of time. So, I asked them about fire extinguishers, and it turns out that they didn’t have any available on their machines.” Making changes like mandatory fire extinguishers on all machines is a decision each dealer must make. However, Allison’s goal is to go above and beyond her job by solving problems that dealers didn’t know they had.
2. “We also see a lot of ingestion claims,” said Allison. “Putting diesel in the DEF tank seems to be the most common area of ingestion, but there have been more types.” Because of the ingestion problem, we are offering a free resource to anyone who needs it. Dealers can order “DEF Only” stickers on our website using the link below.

ORDER DEF FLUID ONLY STICKERS HERE