Car dealership up in flames

A major fire at a main car dealership in the East Midlands destroyed its workshop and repair centre and caused extensive smoke damage to the office areas, parts storage areas and new and used vehicle stock. A team from T&B was assigned to manage the claim.

Coordination
An initial meeting was organised with all the organisations affected by the fire including the policyholder, their landlord, their insurance broker, accountant and the insurer’s loss adjuster. The key objective of the meeting was to establish the circumstances of the incident, identify any immediate issues that needed to be resolved and to agree a plan of action.

Buildings
The policyholder did not own the premises but was responsible for insuring them. So, with the support and assistance of the landlord, we arranged for engineers and surveyors to attend the site and produce an initial strip out and decontamination schedule together with a further schedule for the reinstatement of the premises.

The main issue relating to the building was damage to the asbestos roof and we arranged for suitable contractors to be instructed to analyse the extent of the contamination and to report on the most effective ways to manage and remove the asbestos debris.

Machinery and plant
Our team prepared an itemised inventory of damaged and destroyed machinery, hand tools, diagnostic equipment and office contents. This was checked on site with the loss adjuster and a detailed and supported schedule of claim was submitted.

Stock and work in progress
Toxic smoke deposits and asbestos debris had contaminated stock so it was quickly agreed with the adjusters that none of the parts stock could be used on vehicles. A list was prepared and checked on site with the adjuster.

Vehicle stock
A large number of new and high value second hand vehicles were damaged by the fire and contaminated by asbestos. We arranged for these vehicles to be removed to offsite storage and negotiated the value of these with the insurer.

Business interruption
The extent of the fire damage was such that it was impossible for the business to continue trading from the site. The policyholder located temporary premises to enable them to continue to trade and we advised them as to how the business interruption section of their policy would support them with this aspect of their claim.

Summary
It was clear that the claim would continue beyond the end of the 12 month indemnity period and therefore a projected business interruption claim was produced and a negotiated settlement agreed on all aspects of the claim, including the building. This ensured that the policyholder received considerable sums in advance and had the flexibility to utilise these sums in the most advantageous way for their business.

What to do next?
If you think we can help you with a claim why not contact us today.