Business News: Charles Taylor, Verisk and Starr Aviation

Charles Taylor Expands Marine Technical Services

Insurance services company Charles Taylor has expanded its marine technical services offering by integrating Bowditch Marine, Pilot Marine and the marine surveyors of Charles Taylor Adjusting U.S.

As of April 1, the adjusting team will be known as Charles Taylor Marine Technical Services, the company said in a press release.

Charles Taylor purchased Bowditch Marine, Inc. in 2018 and Pilot Marine earlier this year. Charles Taylor has offered adjusting and surveying services in the U.S, including marine surveying, since 2001.

By combining decades of marine surveying expertise as Charles Taylor Marine Technical Services, the newly integrated team will provide marine and cargo surveying and consulting services to assist vessel owners, reinsurance and insurance underwriters, and other maritime interests, the company said.

“The creation of Charles Taylor Marine Technical Services, through bringing together our highly skilled industry professionals, will enable us to centralize technical expertise under one brand, streamline client responsiveness and leverage operational scale,” stated Christopher Schaffer, head of Charles Taylor Third Party Administration.

Verisk Offering Free Use of Tools During Pandemic

Verisk Analytics is offering insurance professionals free access to its ClaimXperience and OneXperience platforms during the coronavirus pandemic to help the industry scale back on-site inspections.

The products allow professionals to collaborate remotely with policyholders using a range of tools, including video, the Jersey City, N.J.-based company said in a press release. Insurance professionals and policyholders will also receive, when available, up to six different aerial images that show overhead, north, south, east, west, and neighborhood views, along with some reference property characteristics.

The data is used in home and business inspections that are often performed to identify and verify property characteristics and contents as well as adjusters who visit the home or business to determine the scope of damages and estimate the cost of repairs, Verisk said.

To support the program, Verisk said it substantially scaled up its capacity to stream and store video and supporting data. In addition, the company added a range of remote training and support options for insurance professionals and shifted key resources to help them implement the platforms.

Since rolling out the program in mid-March, more than 620 customers have signed up to access OneXperience and ClaimXperience. These customers have more than 17,000 adjusters or inspectors actively using the platform, the company said. They have handled in excess of 20,000 building inspections and claims with the help of nearly 14,000 video-collaboration sessions. Field staff and policyholders have also exchanged more than 175,000 photos and almost 9,000 hours of video, Verisk said.

Starr Aviation Relaxing Rules During Pandemic

Starr Insurance Companies announced that its aviation division is making accommodations for general aviation policyholders to extend training and medical-certification deadlines for insured pilots because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We quickly saw that Covid-19 mitigation efforts could affect pilots whose policies require an annual training event and pilots subject to regulatory aviation requirements,” stated Steve Blakey, president of Starr Insurance. “We responded by building in time so our policyholders don’t risk losing their coverage.”

Until June 30, Starr Aviation will extend training and medical certificate deadlines for recurrent trainings and medical certificates. A full description of the policy change can be found here.

The company said the accommodations do not apply to any individual who lacked an applicable and unexpired medical certificate as of March 31, or any person serving as a flight engineer with a known physical deficiency or increase in physical deficiency that would make the flight engineer unable to meet the physical requirements for an unexpired medical certificate.