What's wrong with tradition? Nothing, unless following traditional practices and procedures are ultimately costing your insurance companies big money. And that just might be the case if you're not savvy to opportunities to save — or make — money during the claim-handling process.

To seasoned adjusters, this philosophy might seem completely foreign. After all, adjusters traditionally have been charged with processing claims in a timely manner, conducting thorough investigations (with the help of their SIU's) to uncover fraud, making fair and fiduciarily responsible settlement decisions, and avoiding litigious scenarios whenever possible. That's all well and good. But actually creating profit during the process? It begins to sound like a potential bad-faith scenario.

Here is a better scenario that works for everyone. Say you're working a sizeable commercial claim that's resulted in large amounts of damaged or otherwise impaired materials, such as a train derailment, storm-battered marine assets, or even an overturned tractor trailer. You could release the damaged items back to the insured and close the claim on the basis of lost value. Depending on any number of variables, that might work out fine. However, another method favored by many involves paying off the claim and putting the salvaged material up for auction through any number of salvage companies, most of whom operate through Internet bidding. You recover some of your claim payout when the material is sold and you don't compromise on fair market value.