The first question with any claim is not "how much" but "whose": has the company's own property been damaged, or has the company caused damage to someone else? The two directions mean two different contracts, two different processes – and partly opposite rules of conduct.
- Own damage → property insurance: the company is the injured party and reports to its own insurer.
- Damage caused to someone else → liability insurance: the company is the party at fault, and the insurer assesses the injured party's claim.
- In a liability matter, coordinate before admitting fault – settlement is the insurer's job.
Own damage: the property route
If a storm strips the roof, there is a break-in at the warehouse, or the workshop burns down – the company is the injured party, and its own property insurance responds. The process is the familiar one: loss mitigation, documentation, notification via the insurer's line, inspection, compensation. Here the company's interest is the fullest, fastest file possible – show everything, prove everything.
Damage caused to someone else: the liability route
If the company's work machine damages the neighbour's car, defective performance causes loss for a customer, or a client slips in the shop – the company is on the side that caused the damage, and liability insurance steps in. The process here is different: the injured party's claim must be received and forwarded to the insurer, who examines both whether liability exists and the extent of the loss. An important rule of conduct: coordinate with the insurer before substantively admitting liability or agreeing a settlement – the policy conditions typically require this too, and a hasty "of course, we'll pay" can jeopardise cover. The map of the liability world: liability overview.
When the two meet
Practice favours mixed cases: a fire starting at the company spreads to the neighbour (own property damage plus a liability claim at the same time); a subcontractor causes damage on the project (whose liability, whose cover?); a rented item is damaged (the owner's property claim – the tenant's liability matter). In such cases both directions must be pursued in parallel, with a precise division of roles – this is the genre where broker coordination is worth a great deal: we keep the role split and the deadlines in one place, while notification and claims handling itself run through the insurer's claims line. And if one of the threads stalls: stalled or disputed claims.
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