Claiming auto insurance always has some surprises in store because of many hidden clauses and company policies which policy holders will not be aware of, until the time of the claim. But even with the entire hidden clause satisfied, some insurance companies do not satisfy the claims of policy holders, in which case, an insurance dispute arises. Insurance disputes can be handled in many ways apart from filing a legal case. The role of appraisers, umpires and arbitrators is of importance when settling the insurance disputes outside of court.
Role of appraisers:
- Appraisers are individuals appointed by each party in a dispute to arrive at common grounds.
- When insurance company and the policy holder do not come to a common agreement of claim amount, and the policy holder satisfies all clauses of the insurance company with fully documented proof, then the policy holder can appoint appraiser to discuss with insurance company.
- Insurance company too will appoint an appraiser from their side to discuss the possibilities of an agreement.
- Both appraisers discuss the case thoroughly with evidences and documents and come to a most likely settlement amount.
- Appraisers cannot hold a legal standing against two participating parties. They can only discuss the case and provide an advice.
- Each party pays their own appraiser and the role of appraiser ends when the participating parties agree to the amount decided by the appraiser, or decide to take the discussion to next level.
Role of Umpire:
- When two parties does not come to an agreement upon the claim amount decided by the appraisers in appraisal process, then an umpire is hired to fix the problems.
- An umpire must hear out the case from appraisers of both parties and weigh the pros and cons of the case.
- The umpire must arrive at a final claim amount and advice both the parties regarding the same.
- The umpire will be paid in equal by both parties whether or not they agree upon the amount decided by the umpire.
Role of an Arbitrator:
- When the case is not settled by the umpire as well, the parties in dispute hire an arbitrator from each side to finalize the claim amount.
- Role of arbitrators are the same as appraisers, but the difference is that the proceedings of arbitration process takes place in the court room.
- Umpires hired to settle differences between two arbitrators can legally bind the parties in dispute to settle upon an amount.
