Insurance companies often send out inspectors to inspect a home, automobile or other property for hazards or damages and to write a report about the findings. This is usually performed in specific situations; for example, when someone is purchasing or selling a home, claiming damage to commercial or personal property or filing a claim for automobile damages. A variety of companies employ inspectors to do different insurance inspector jobs and require the inspector to travel to the location and take photos in addition to writing a detailed summary about the inspection.
One of the different insurance inspector jobs is a home insurance inspector who provides residential inspection services and typically works as an independent contractor. Insurance companies often ask home inspectors to inspect a house before they will issue an insurance policy for the homeowners. Banks will sometimes retain a home insurance inspector when a house has been foreclosed on so that the bank can relisted the house at an auction or by private realtor with any defects and flaws noted. Mortgage companies will also get a home insurance inspector to do comparative market analysis when someone wants to get an analysis of other home in the neighborhood. Renters who are interested in a rental property insurance policy can get a home insurance inspector to inspect the apartment or home they are renting along with the personal items they want to insure.
Another type of insurance inspector is a commercial property insurance inspector retained by insurance companies to perform inspections on buildings. As part of these insurance inspector jobs, the inspector goes into the buildings and checks for any hazards and defects along with making sure the property complies with the insurance company’s property and liability insurance guidelines. These insurance inspectors do inspections on buildings such as commercial buildings, apartment buildings, shopping centers and industrial buildings.
Fraud insurance inspectors are also another type of insurance inspector jobs and they inspect claims of damage to vehicles, homes and commercial properties to determine if a claim is legitimate or if fraud has occurred. Insurance companies have these inspectors photograph the damages, check for pre-existing damage and investigate if the person has filed similar claims in the past for the same thing. The fraud inspectors may also investigate claims of lost or damaged insured merchandise such as diamond rings, antiques and valuable artwork.
Regardless of the different insurance inspector jobs, the inspector’s main goal is preventing major losses from property or items that do not meet the insurance company’s requirements and to investigate possible fraudulent claims. Insurance companies suffer major losses throughout the year due to these types of claims and rely on the inspectors to provide adequate reports so that the adjuster can make an informed decision to accept or deny the claim. The inspector has to be knowledgeable in conducting an inspection whether it is an automobile, a building or a damaged merchandise claim, properly trained how to write the inspection report and able to provide evidence such as digital photos and diagrams if needed.