A policy is a promise you cannot test until you need it. For most of the year it sits in a drawer or an inbox, and then one afternoon a truck reverses into your delivery van, or a fire starts in the unit next to your warehouse, and the promise has to hold.
What follows is the part nobody explains at the point of sale.
The first 48 hours matter more than people expect
Nearly every policy carries a notification window, and it is usually shorter than you would guess. Some are seven days. Some are 48 hours. Report late and the insurer is within its rights to decline, even when the loss itself was plainly covered.
So the first call is not to the garage or the contractor. It is to your broker or your insurer. Tell them what happened, when, and where, and get the claim registered. Everything else can follow.
If there is theft, another party involved, or any injury, you also need a police report. Get it early. Trying to obtain one three weeks after the fact turns a routine document into a small project.
What the insurer is really deciding
Behind the forms, a claims handler is answering three questions.
- Was the policy live and in order? Premium paid, cover not lapsed, the item actually listed on the schedule.
- Is this loss one of the things the policy covers? Every policy names its perils, and every policy names its exclusions.
- Is the amount supported? Invoices, valuations, photographs, an adjuster's assessment.
Most disputes are not about bad faith. They are about the third question, and occasionally the first.
Where claims get stuck
- Missing paperwork. The most common cause of delay, and the most avoidable.
- Something that changed and was never declared. A new extension on the building, a vehicle moved to commercial use, stock that doubled since the policy was written.
- Valuation gaps. You say the machine was worth eighty thousand cedis. The adjuster says fifty. Without documentation, the adjuster wins.
- Under-insurance. Where the sum insured sits well below the true value, most policies reduce the payout proportionally. That is the average clause, and it surprises people every time.
This is the point where a broker earns their keep
An insurer's claims department works for the insurer. That is not a criticism, it is simply what it is. Someone has to work the other side of the file.
We assemble the documentation before it is asked for, meet the loss adjuster, and answer the technical questions in the language the policy is written in. Where a settlement offer falls short of what the wording actually promises, we say so, in writing, with the clause cited.
You are not paying us for this. Brokers are remunerated by the insurer, so the advocacy costs you nothing on top of your premium.
What to do now, while nothing is wrong
Five minutes today saves a fortnight later.
- Find your policy schedule and check the notification window.
- Photograph your vehicles, plant, stock and premises, and store the photographs somewhere other than the building itself.
- Keep purchase invoices for anything substantial.
- Tell us when something changes. New premises, new vehicle, more staff, higher stock levels.
- Save your broker's number in your phone under something you will find while flustered.
If you are not sure what your current policies would actually pay out on, send them to us. We will read them properly and tell you plainly.
