Letter to the Editor: Inspections

West • April 30, 2004

“Although it seems to be falling on deaf ears, something must be done about the “inspectors” the insurance companies are hiring to inspect the risks we submit. I have had policies cancelled and/or nonrenewed because of inspection reports for wrong addresses, obvious misstatements on the inspection reports, failure to find the correct locations, and evidently submitting inspection reports made up out of ‘thin air’ by the inspector. As far as I know, such inspectors have no certain qualifications to meet for a company to hire them.

“They should at least be required to have some schooling as to what makes a good risk and what should or should not disqualify a risk. As a most recent example, I had SAFECO decline the renewal for an insured because of ‘brush’ being too close to the insured dwelling per the inspector’s report. It is not possible for an inspector to have seen this property and submit such a report. There is no brush and never has been. I submitted photo(s) as proof, but got nowhere with the company. I lost the account to another agency and company as a consequence. This is a serious issue and must be addressed by the industry.”

— Jere F. Allan, Blythe, Calif.