One of the best ways to ensure success as an insurance adjuster is to continually expand your knowledge base and increase your skillset. Different types of claims, locations, catastrophes, and your personal circumstances all play a role in how much you can work during a given period. Successful adjusters put themselves in a position to work whenever and wherever they are needed – and then find ways to work when there’s a lull in claims.
We recently talked with Chris Stanley, founder of IA Path, who says that learning to handle auto claims is one of the best ways you can boost your resume and keep yourself employed year-round.
“Knowing how to handle auto claims opens up opportunities in daily claims, which can sometimes be hard to come by as storm season dwindles,” said Chris. “Auto claims can also be a great way to get your career started, fill in the gaps between cat deployments, or to stay close to home if or when you need to.”
Auto Claims Training
Through his company, IA Path, Chris has made it a priority to make auto claims training more accessible. He’s seen first hand that many adjusters, from newbies to vets, think they need to have a background in a body shop to be good at handling auto claims.
But Chris disagrees. “Like most specialized areas of adjusting, handling auto damage claims is process-driven. If you learn the process, understand the basics, and have guided checklists and cheat sheets, you can do this job.”
In the past, training options for auto damage claims were limited and/or costly. So Chris has spent the past few years creating video training courses that were previously only available through IA Path. His courses were designed to give adjusters the confidence to inspect and scope vehicle damages resulting from a hail storm or collision.
At AdjusterPro, we often get asked about how to start in auto claims which is why we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve partnered with Chris to offer his courses through our platform! The courses are also now good for continuing education credits for a number of states, with more being approved almost weekly.
What You’ll Learn
We’re currently offering two of Chris’ most popular courses to get you started on your way to handling auto damage claims.
Independent Adjuster Guide to Auto Collision Claims: $69
Inside the auto damage collision claims course we’ll cover topics such as:
- Receiving and scheduling auto claims
- Planning your day
- The different people involved in a claim
- Taking proper photos of the vehicle
- Identifying damaged parts
- Determining the proper repair operations
- Adding additional operations based on damages
- Calculating repair hours
- Inputting damages into the estimating software
- Handling supplements
While Chris covers some basics on estimating software, this is not an instructional course so you’ll definitely want some additional training for CCC One or other industry-standard software prior to accepting live claims.
Independent Adjuster Guide to Auto Hail Claims: 4 Hours, $49
Auto hail claims are definitely some of the most common across much of the central U.S. so knowing how to work these is a great start. We’ll cover:
- Receiving and scheduling auto claims
- Planning your day
- Handling drive-in claims
- Handling field claims
- Respecting the insured’s vehicle with proper etiquette
- Inspecting hail damaged vehicles
- Paintless dent repair process
- Properly sizing hail damage
- Identifying oversized dents
- Adding industry standard markups
- Deciding between conventional repair and PDR
- Reviewing the estimate with the insured
- Biggest mistakes on auto hail claims and how to avoid them
Depending on your state, the Collision course is worth 6 hours of CE credit and the Hail course is worth 4 credits. Again, we have pending approvals and more states will continue to be added in the future. But regardless of CE credits, if you are interested in expanding into auto damage claims, these specialized courses are a great place to start.
We are excited to help you diversify your skillset with the IA Path Continuing Education courses through AdjusterPro. To see if these courses qualify for CE in your state, visit your state CE page and scan the courses. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to help.
