XACTCONTENTS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Typically, insurance carriers calculate overages by taking the claim total and subtracting the sum of the policy limit and the deductible. This may be easier to understand with some examples.

In the case of the $10,600 claim total, even though the carrier is absorbing $600 of the deductible, the insured will still need to pay $1,000 out of pocket beyond the $9,600 payment from the carrier in order to become "whole" again.

In the case of the $11,000 claim total, even though the carrier is absorbing the full $1,000 deductible, the insured will still need to pay $1,000 out of pocket beyond the $10,000 payment from the carrier in order to become "whole" again.

In the case of the $15,000 claim total, even though the carrier is absorbing the full $1,000 deductible, the insured will need to pay $5,000 out of pocket beyond the $10,000 payment from the carrier in order to become "whole" again.

If you are unsure if the deductible is being absorbed or how much of the deductible is being absorbed, note the net claim amount with the deductible and then remove the deductible and compare the net claim values. For example, in the $10,600 example, without the deductible you’d see a $600 Overage amount and a Net Claim of $10,000. So by removing a $1,000 deductible the difference in net claims is only $400. To find out how much was absorbed, subtract the difference--$400--from the full deductible value and you can verify that $600 was absorbed. When the deductible is fully absorbed, the net claim amounts won’t be different from claim totals. When nothing was absorbed the difference will be exactly equal to the deductible.

There are several possible reasons depreciation is not calculating on the line items:

• • The depreciation may be reporting based on factors other than those you expect. To check how the depreciation is reporting, click the depreciation in the selected line item. The default settings are Recoverable depreciation calculated by Age/Condition. Make sure that you have selected the correct options and added any additional data, for example, the age, percent of depreciation, or amount of depreciation.

  • The line item option settings may be removing depreciation. Ensure your item has a life expectancy by choosing a category and selector. Next, make sure the condition (use) isn’t set to New. Finally, make sure the insured replaced option is set correctly. If you’ve selected the Repl check box, any depreciation will be removed. This is because the Repl check box indicates the item will be replaced directly by the insurer.

  • The policy type may have depreciation restrictions. Check the policy type on the Claim Info tab under Coverage/Loss. Different policy types have different depreciation requirements. For example, an ACV policy will always have the depreciation set to “Non-recoverable.”

  • The claim parameters may need to be changed.  Go to the Claim Info tab and select Parameters. In the Depreciation Options section, make sure the max depreciation is higher than 0% and that the other options have the correct selections for the claim. If none of the “Depreciate” check boxes are selected, no depreciation will be applied.

  • The claim parameters may need to be changed. Go to the Claim Info tab and select Parameters. In the Depreciation Options section, make sure the max depreciation is higher than 0% and that the other options have the correct selections for the claim. If none of the “Depreciate” check boxes are selected, no depreciation will be applied.

Go to the XactContents tab, and select Pricing. On this page, price inventory items consecutively. Vendor items are pre-loaded for each inventory item consecutively to maintain the quality of performance. Pricing items out of order may slow down the process as it requires more time to load the automatic search results.  

Absolutely. To learn how, visit the Inventory help page.

Each general quote item contains information about its suggested annual depreciation and maximum depreciation. You can view this information by right clicking on the selected item and then choosing “View Item Information.” This information is only available if you have selected a category and selector.

The suggested annual depreciation is calculated using the average life expectancy for the item.

The life expectancy is determined by the industry standard “Joint Military Industry Depreciation Guide (JMIDG).”

For more information about depreciation, see the Depreciation Information white paper.

While vendor-specific pricing data is updated nightly, general quote prices are updated monthly. Any price changes or new general quote items are downloaded with the new monthly price lists.

Price lists are area-specific to provide area-specific data, such as sales tax rates, for each zip code.

XactContents' goal is to provide access to everyday prices you would see if you were shopping online via a merchant's website. Please note that temporary price changes that will expire, like sales, are not used.

For more information about Xactware's Contents Pricing Methods, see the XactContents Pricing Methodology white paper.

INACTIVE – Inactive items are items that were not included in the most recent data received from a merchant partner but may still be available in the marketplace from other retailers. This may be due to the vendor being temporarily out of stock or no longer selling the item.  If the vendor later reinstates the item, it will no longer be marked INACTIVE.  Double clicking an inactive item will bring up a list of comparable replacements; this list could possibly include the same item from other vendors.

DISCONTINUED – Electronics, computers, appliances, and other consumer items are constantly changing and upgrading. Within a year, it may not be possible to replace an item with the same model. To assist with this problem, Xactware maintains a database of discontin­ued items. Double clicking these items will bring up a list of comparable replacements.

These possible replacements are determined through the use of attributes—features or char­acteristics that help determine a product’s quality and value. The contents pricing team gives each attribute a score, and the total score of the item is derived from the sum of the attribute scores. This score is used to suggest current replacement matches of the same like, kind, and quality (LKQ) for items no longer in production. You can use XactContents’ suggestion or compare attributes to find a more preferred replacement item. Attribute scores make it easy to compare items across manufacturers and vendors without requiring additional in-depth research.

Xactware’s goal is to provide replacement prices that are accurate, consistent, and valid throughout the life cycle of the claim. Because of this goal, we strive not to include “sale prices” in our XactContents personal property database. Xactware defines a “sale price” as a temporary decrease in the price of an item.

However, it is not uncommon for different merchants to use the term “sale price” to mean something other than the Xactware definition. Some retailers advertise that they have the lowest prices and that every item is on sale all the time. Other stores label an item as “on sale” to reflect a permanent price reduction. This is common when a merchant is closing out stock or still carrying a prior year’s model of a product. Still others will display the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) and list their own “every-day” price as on sale because it is selling for less than MSRP.

Because of these differences in how a sale price is defined, it is possible for a user to visit one of our merchant partners’ websites and notice that Xactware has published a price that is being promoted as a sale price by the merchant. This should not cause immediate alarm. The price in XactContents is intended to be the item’s regular price from the specified merchant as of the date listed.

Please be aware that while Xactware makes every effort to exclude temporary price reductions from our price list, we are merely publishing information received from each merchant, and merchants will occasionally make mistakes.

For more information about this, see the XactContents Estimating: Sales Prices white paper.

External notes are included on all relevant reports. Internal notes can be excluded so they do not appear on customer reports. However, internal notes will be included in data sent through XactAnalysis and are a permanent part of the claim.

Sales tax law is extremely complicated.

Xactware has conducted extensive sales tax research in each price list area and jurisdiction and has tried to make sales tax as easy to apply as possible. A tax jurisdiction, as determined by the zip code, may have multiple tax rates or multiple options of the same rate.

You can choose from the options to apply a specific sales tax rate to a claim. The different options allow you to decide which items the sales tax will be applied to. XactContents users probably want to use the “Contents Only” option.

For more information on sales tax, see the Overhead and Profit Settings on Sales Tax in Xactware Products white paper.

Once a payment has been made, it is difficult to fix a mistake. Make sure to double check your work before submitting any payments. However, if an error has occurred, you have two options:

• • Go to the Payments tab, and right click on the payment. Select Void Payment. This will void out the most recent payment and may allow you to fix the error.

  • Go to the Payments tab, and right click on the payment. If the error occurred several payments before, you may need to select Reset Payments. Resetting payments will remove all supplement information, and will delete all ACV, Deferred, and Advance Payments.

Vendor items search results are from the many national retailers that send Xactware pricing data on a daily or weekly basis. These results are compiled into one searchable database. If you’re connected to the internet, we can supplement these results with items from other large pricing providers such as Amazon, Nextag, and eBay. If you’d like to see results from all of these sources in one combined list, go to the Combined tab in the search results.

A supplement is a change made to the scope of the loss after the initial ACV payment has been made. It’s important to track additions, changes, and deletions made as part of the supplement  to ensure proper accounting. Payment Tracker creates reports to identify how these changes impact the payment due to the insured. The most common type of supplement occurs when a few additional items are added that may have been forgotten initially by the insured. In this case, the amount due to the insured increases by the ACV amount of those added items. However, if items were changed or deleted, it’s possible this could create an overpayment situation.

A correction is a change made to the scope of the loss before the initial ACV payment is made. In this case, it’s not important to track the changes made because once the correction is complete a payment will be made for the full amount.

There are a number of ways to improve your search results:

•       Check for spelling mistakes, particularly in the brand.

•       If you have an extremely detailed description, try removing some of the specifics to broaden your results.

•       Use the “Refine Results” pane to select an exact item type and filter out some of the noise from accessories or related items.

•       Use the Brand filter if you know the specific brand.

•       Use the price range filters to refine results to only targeted price areas. For example if you’re looking for an iPad, you may want to set a minimum price of $150 which will remove things like cases, chargers, and other accessories.

•       Look at the Combined results tab—this will broaden results to include items from Amazon, Nextag, and eBay.