The freight claims process does not happen without communication. You can have all the documentation and know all the deadlines, but you need to have a way to exchange that information with others to initiate the claim itself. With strong communication lines, the process can go much smoother and a resolution can be reached sooner.
By keeping those communication lines open, you can ensure that all parties are staying updated on the Carmack Amendment deadline. The Carmack Amendment is a measure designed to protect shippers from excessive costs due to carrier mishandling. It puts the liability for loss or damage on the carrier unless the carrier can prove otherwise. The amendment says the minimum amount of time a carrier can require for filing a claim is nine months from the date of delivery or, in the case of loss, nine months from a reasonable delivery date. It is a deadline you cannot miss and failing to communicate clearly can put that in jeopardy.
Even though claims management has certainly become a high-stakes part of the business, shippers are regularly saddled with inefficient communication strategies. In this blog, we will look at those communication difficulties and how freight claims management software can help overcome such concerns.
With manual processes, it takes a great deal of time and effort to communicate with all parties involved in a freight claim. A nine-month deadline can creep up on you fast when each step in the filing process can slow you down. Let’s take a look at some of the problems that come along with outdated manual methods:
Each part of the process of informing a carrier about a freight claim can be fraught with delays. First, all of the information and documentation must be relayed to them. If there is an error, that will take more time to resolve. Then there is another possibility of delays if they are contesting or wanting more proof that the claim is their fault. All of these obstacles with multiple channels of communication turn little hiccups into an extremely time-consuming experience.
Without documentation, there is no freight claims case. Yet proper documentation can be difficult to track down. When you consider how many documents are used in freight claims — transportation documents, delivery documents, a statement of claim, value verification papers, and photos — and that they all need to be filled out correctly and with clarity, it’s not hard to see how things can fall through the cracks. Throw in that much of this information has to be communicated by multiple people in multiple departments and you have a recipe for disaster.
All of this communicating, compiling, filing, and waiting, along with the likelihood of having to follow up with multiple parties to resolve an issue, means teams responsible for freight claims management will spend more time on each individual claim. For large organizations this may require hiring additional support staff or paying employees overtime to stay on top of claims, increasing overall administrative costs.
There is a solution for many of the difficulties listed above. It’s freight claims management software, which Integrates document and deadline management to streamline the freight claims process. With the right software, you can step into the next generation of freight claims. You can generate a form immediately that can absorb all of the documentation and make it easy to communicate necessary information to each party. Data entry errors are reduced and misplaced or lost documents are no more.
One of the past hurdles in freight claims management communication was the time it took to contact the carrier, get all the documentation to them, and have them digest it and then respond. This new software compiles documentation into one place that makes it easy to relay all the information quickly when you are communicating with the carrier. No longer do faxes need to be sent and phone calls made to confirm all the documentation has reached them. With the sharing of a file, the carrier can have everything they need and all of it can be sent to them not long after the freight has been damaged or lost. There’s no need to worry about any deadlines because the software sends alerts when due dates are approaching. This means a reduction in the time and money spent on old-hat manual methods.
The software can also allow you to be more efficient at preventing future freight claims. The data on all freight claims can be easily compiled and a dashboard can be created from the analytics to provide in-depth visibility to reduce future losses. For instance, it might show that a certain carrier is more prone to freight claims or that a particular route has a significant number of claims incidents.
Communication is a key hurdle that slows down the freight claims process. With manual processes, communicating and waiting for acknowledgement and response could take days or even weeks. But the advent of freight claims management software has streamlined that process significantly. With the right software, all documentation can be linked together, all correspondence can be done in a minute or less, and deadlines are easier to adhere to. That’s what you can expect from the software at FreightClaims.com. With a top-line, user-friendly platform, FreightClaims.com can help you easily and quickly submit new claims, rapidly track existing claims, and streamline communications.
Ready to learn more? Contact FreightClaims.com today and request a demo.
