Legal \ Insurance Video anybody do it?

epirb wrote on 8/16/2004, 3:14 PM

As many of you may know, The aftermath of Hurricane Charley down here in Fl. is quite substantial. I was fortunate in that it was predicted to make landfall right where I live, but my good luck was others severe misfortune.
Even people as far inland as Fleshpainter and Patrick Masters in Orlando (the middle of the state for those of you not familair) were affected by his Devastation.And friends and customers of mine to the south of me lost their homes and all their belongings.My thoughts are with them all.
Which leads me to my point, as some of you may know,video is a hobby/partime gig for me. My day to day, is working on fairly large boats\yachts.
I have already had calls from some owners , who wanted to know if I could video their yacht and the things inside for insurance purposes.
I did the same sorta thing for my house for insurance , and just before the storm , I did and updated version. But I'm Looking for input and advice by anyone who has maybe done this profesionaly in the past.
I'm not looking to do this as a career but I believe with my knowlege of both the boats and video it would be a benefit o my customers.
I need to know what must done in order to make it legaly compliant, plus I want to set a fair price .Even though most of my customers have more money than God the LAST thing I want to do is overcharge for this service.
The company I work for has always been known for top customer service and trust, and I would do nothing less.
I know many are wiping thier brows with relief right now and that has sparked them ask me about this now.
So Has anybody got any advice?

Comments

rextilleon wrote on 8/16/2004, 3:24 PM

Well I think that a call to a couple of insurance cos is in order. Normally they like to survery damage with their own adjusters and they usually take stills of a given disaster site. I dont know that after the fact tape will do much good but before you commit yourself and your clients to taping I would check it out.

mrjhands wrote on 8/16/2004, 3:46 PM

Yah, rex has a good point regarding the "after the fact" timing-BUT, that is indeed part of the industry, mainly for property with regard to THEFT insurance, at least the service is offered in the Kansas City area here.
It will be part of my video service as I am currently writing a business plan-
upscale residents are good customer bases; you go in, videotape and index belongings on video, several copies, to insure legality, register the video project in a legally binding way, whether thru notary-type witnessing or even informally copywriting; package up a dvd copy, send it thru the postal system back to the customer, instruct them not to open original package unless required by the courts.

epirb wrote on 8/16/2004, 3:52 PM

Thanks Rex,
<Well I think that a call to a couple of insurance cos is in order>

I'll do that, there is no doubt that they would send an adjuster, but in a case such as fire, Hurricane etc. things will be lost,sunk or just cant be destinguished after the fact.
And if it sinks out in the middle of the ocean, they won t even salvage it in deep water.
You'd be amazed at the stuff these guys have on board. $10K + in rods and reels easy. 3-4 sat recievers, plasma tvs ,artwork etc.
they may have reciepts for it all and some stuff they've had from boat to boat.
In a case like a hurricane all that stuff would be strewn all over the place, maybe not even found.
It's thing like that that I would think the insurance companies would like to have some proof, not to mention a reminder for the owners that they did have this stuff too.
I can recall helping a guy move stuff from his old 65 ft to his new 75footer and him saying numerous times,"I forgot I even had one of those!"

epirb wrote on 8/16/2004, 3:55 PM

All excelent points too Mrj,
I 'm copying and pasting your guys suggestions to note pad for reference.
Thanks both of you.
Eric

filmy wrote on 8/16/2004, 7:28 PM

While it is not specific to insurance I would highly suggest you post the same question on the Boards here: The Law Enforcement & Emergency Services Video Association