An insurance investigator career is one of the easiest ways to get into the private detective industry, as many insurance carriers will hire entry-level applicants and provide excellent training and advancement opportunities. Insurance investigation is a necessary component of maintaining fair and cost-effective indemnity coverage for all of us. Therefore, we must all do our parts to ensure that companies can continue to protect our health, life, property and liability coverage requirements, without giving away money to thieves and scam artists.
This guide helps aspiring insurance detectives to break into this crucial sector of the investigative arts.
SIU Insurance Investigator Vocation
Most insurance detectives work for the carrier directly. These special investigative unit members must handle a tremendous number of potentially fraudulent claims each and every day. Trying to weed out the legitimate claims, from inflated or false claims, can be very difficult, so most are simply paid, without too much investigation at all.
However, when large, or obviously suspicious, claims come to the attention of SIU staff, there is sure to be a thorough and intensive inquiry to be sure that the claim is righteous and not the product of inflated personal gain on the part of the claimant or their care providers.
Private Sector Insurance Investigator Career
Private investigators are often brought in to look into large claims, especially when these claims result in significant litigation. In these cases, the investigator typically works for the insurance company’s legal counsel, as an independent contractor.
These private detectives are usually battling against investigators brought in by the plaintiff’s attorney to provide positive reinforcement of a legitimate claim. When the stakes are high, a well planned and executed investigation can save an insurance carrier millions of dollars on a single case.
Insurance Investigator Career Analysis
Insurance investigation can take other less common forms, as well. Sometimes, investigators are not brought in to limit or dispute a claim. Instead, they are merely instructed to assess liability and determine who should be responsible for paying a legitimate claim. This is a very important part of corporate litigation and takes place daily throughout our legal system.
I worked almost exclusively as a defendant’s insurance investigation specialist for my entire career in the industry. I have learned much from the many fine lawyers that I worked with on a daily basis and have hopefully contributed in a positive way to a wide range of problematic litigation cases. I found this type of investigation work to be very fulfilling and rewarding, especially in cases when a claim was obviously suspect.