An insured individual has an insurance policy.
Secured is a notion that is linked to the verb ensure : to make something firm or secure . The concept is usually used with reference to the asset that is protected by an insurance policy .
The contract that obliges the insurer to pay a certain amount of money to the policyholder when one of the contingencies provided for in said contract occurs is called an insurance policy. The policyholder, for his part, must pay a premium to the insurer to be protected.
Examples of insured assets
Through this type of policy, a person can insure different types of property : a house, a car, a computer, etc. As long as you pay the agreed premium , the corresponding goods will be insured according to the conditions detailed in the contract.
Suppose a man decides to insure a car against all risks . This means that, if the insured vehicle is stolen, or if it is damaged by an act of vandalism, to name two possibilities, the insurance company will pay you an amount as compensation .
If an insured property suffers damage contemplated in the policy, its owner receives compensation.
The expert reports
Of course, the process is much more complex, since it never proceeds directly to the payment of compensation without first carrying out the expert opinion or appraisal of the incident . This procedure consists of entrusting a specialized professional to assess the damage suffered by the insured property, in this case a car, although first of all to know if it is a legitimate case or an attempted scam by the client. .
Among the most important functions of the expert are the following:
- Determine whether the damages that the insured has declared may have been generated by the stated causes of the incident.
- Assess the damages from an economic point of view and propose an amount as compensation.
- Carry out quality control after repair work, to verify that workers have proceeded in accordance with appropriate safety standards and that the result is consistent with what the company has promised the insured.
Once the expert determines that the claim is valid, he must calculate the amount necessary to compensate the client in accordance with the provisions of the contract, something that usually leads to the latter's dissatisfaction. It is important to highlight that insurance companies have the obligation to carry out an objective and impartial study of each claim, although in practice there is the idea that they always try to defraud their clients.
In the event of not being satisfied with the compensation proposed by the expert, the insured has the option of beginning a litigation process to demand a greater sum. Another measure that the client has at their disposal to achieve the result they are looking for is to propose an expert on their own, to contrast their assessment with that provided by the company employee. In a situation of this type, both parties must formally justify their conclusions, with the greatest possible degree of detail and technical data.
What is assured, in a few lines
In summary, we could say that, for an insured asset to exist, there must be two parties (the policyholder and the insurance firm) who sign a contract (the insurance policy), which establishes reciprocal obligations and rights.
On the part of the policyholder, the main obligation is to pay the premium in a timely manner. The insurance company, for its part, must respond (paying what is appropriate) when an incident foreseen in the contract occurs.
In some cases, insured property is required by law . Cars, for example, cannot circulate on public roads if they are not insured against damage that the driver may cause to a third party.