Specialty Adjuster Spotlight: John van Wetering

According to John, being an executive loss adjuster specialising in injury claims is a bit like being a detective without the criminal elements (at least not often!).

“I liken my work to piecing together a jigsaw puzzle, often with parts missing. With major injury claims, such as fatalities and catastrophic injury claims, the end game is fully understanding what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and who is to blame – which is another way of saying who is liable?

“No stones can be left unturned; the last thing you want to see is evidence turn up after the investigation has been completed,” John explains.

Making every effort to ensure this doesn’t happen is part of the skill that John has honed over the past 35 years.?He says when it does happen, it changes the whole complexion of the claim: “For example, a surprise witness who should have been interviewed, or the involvement of another party whose actions caused or contributed to the accident, is potentially going to be a game changer for the claim.”

“We don’t want any surprises. If there’s no surprises, then I’m doing my job well.”

John has been at Crawford for the past four years. He’s a National Executive Adjuster and Crawford Australia’s National Manager of Injury Claims. He focuses on major injury, product liability (property damage and injury) and special interest claims such as institutional abuse.

John is trusted by:?

• Australian based insurers
• London based insurers
• Government
• Corporations

John’s wisdom of experience sees him constantly being briefed by insurers to investigate serious injury and property loss claims, and it’s not hard to understand why he’s considered one of the industry’s best.

“With the injury claims, often no claim has been made at the point that the insurer brings me into the tent. They get me on the case because they become alive to an event that could cause rise to an insurance claim being made. At this point, they often want an investigation carried out while the facts are ‘fresh’.?

“So, I will interview witnesses to the incident or accident, inspect and sometimes recreate the accident scene, gather relevant records, arrange expert assessments if necessary, and then put everything I have gathered into a report.?The idea is that the report will guide the insurer on what to do in the event a claim is made.?Knowledge is power after all,” John explains.

While it might sound simple; the art is knowing what questions to ask, what experts are necessary, how to keep client costs to a minimum while still delivering the end outcome… and John is a master at all this and more.

John holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Economics. He is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Chartered Loss Adjusters and recipient of the AICLA Victorian Division ‘Loss Adjuster of the Year Award’ in 2020.

John says if he wasn’t a loss adjuster, he’d love to be an international travel writer.

When asked; “what keeps you at Crawford?”, John says it’s “the people, the culture, being part of a global company, and the quality of work.”

Learn more about our liability loss adjusting services: Liability | Crawford & Company | Australia (crawco.com.au)

Contact details:

John van Wetering

LLB., B.Ec., FCLA., FIFAA

National Executive Adjuster and National Manager of Injury Claims

+61 (0) 418 329 683

[email protected]