AF recently facilitated its November arbitrator workshop with over 425 member arbitrators in attendance. The purpose of these 30-minute workshops is to drive decision quality by:

• Sharing information with arbitrators on recent decision quality trends and drivers.
• Answering questions arbitrators may have on hearing cases.

November’s topics and key takeaways included the following:

Word-Versus-Word Decisions 

• Liability arguments supported with evidence are considered to be true. 
• Word-versus-word decisions should be rare. 
• Remember, you are not adjusting the claim. Your decision is based on the evidence provided. 
• The preponderance of the evidence prevails. 

Supplemental Filings 

• The arbitrator can see the following items from the original decision:
  • Liability decision comments
  • Assigned duties breached
  • Percentages of negligence 
  • Awarded damages
  • Prior damage disputes and the corresponding decision 
  • Prior payment credits for the initial filing
  • Any evidence that has not been purged

Types of Total Losses

• Financial (Constructive) Total Loss 
  • The estimated repair cost exceeds the vehicle’s value.
  • The total loss formula supports that it is more economical to total the vehicle versus repairing. 
    • Total loss formula (TLF): A vehicle’s repair costs plus the salvage value is equal to or greater than the actual cash value (ACV).
• Structural Total Loss
  • The type of damage incurred does not allow the vehicle to be safely repaired.
• State Total Loss Specifications
  • Several states use the aforementioned total loss formula.
  • Multiple states use a total loss threshold (TLT) percentage to determine if the vehicle should be rendered a total loss.

Quick Tips

• Revisit Evidence
  • The estimate can be submitted during a revisit to support the decision to render the vehicle a total loss. 
  • Review the estimate for accuracy. 
  • Are the damages and repairs supported by the vehicle photos?
  • Do operations and costs appear to be accurate?
• Evidence
  • AF has no formal rules of evidence. 
  • Invoices, proof of payment, vehicle photos, etc., may be necessary to prove damages, when disputed. 
• Partial Exclusions
  • Rule 2-4 allows exclusions to be raised with a denial of coverage or subrogation prohibited with the policy information.    
  • Rule 2-5 notes that partial exclusions within the policy can be raised as a damage dispute.
  • AF does not require both a denial of coverage letter and for the issue to be raised as a damage dispute. 

Our next arbitrator workshop will be held on February 24 and 26 at 2 p.m. ET. You can enroll on our website. We hope to see you there!