Claims can occur anywhere in the world. Prompt attendance of an experienced surveyor is essential to establish what has happened, the extent of the damage and protect recovery rights against third parties. The volume of claims we handle enable us to maintain established lines of communication with our network of survey agents. The survey agent will conduct local survey and investigation and maintain contact with the claimant in their own language and is aware of local customs and regulations. Unless our clients decide otherwise, we instruct the agent to report directly to our Regional Office who will also pay their charges. This avoids any conflict of interest which may occur when the claimant pays for the survey.

We publish details of our world-wide network of survey agents on this website. This is primarily for inclusion in our clients’ documents (policy / certificate of insurance) and for contact by local claimants. All other enquiries should be directed to our Regional Office who will then contact the agent concerned as necessary. This ensures that the agent is aware of our involvement and performs to the standards and limitations we have established for our network partners i.e. concentrates on survey and local contact only. For certain types of claim (i.e. theft or specific cargo expertise) we may select an alternative service provider.

Claims can be reported to us via the Internet with dedicated forms for use by the claimant, the insurer and our survey agents respectively. As long as the country in which the claim occurred is correctly specified, the data supplied will automatically be sent to the WKW Regional Office concerned, otherwise the report will default to our London Head Office.

Unless we are specifically instructed to the contrary, we and our agents will immediately review if there are opportunities to reduce your claim costs by pursuing recovery against the guilty party and take appropriate steps to obtain evidence and security.