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In this first step, you will read carefully the presentation of this
unit (phrasal verbs have been highlighted in yellow). A full glossary
below will help you understand it better. To get information in
Spanish, just place the arrow of your mouse on any highlighted word
without clicking. |
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Some weeks ago a
lorry
carrying Harper & Grant's goods was
hijacked on the road. Now
there is a further development of this which concerns the insurance.
Every firm insures itself against loss or damage to its property.
Harper & Grant's
insurance brokers had arranged a blanket
insurance with a syndicate of Lloyds underwriters. Blanket insurance
means insurance which covers everything, a comprehensive policy.
Harper & Grant make a statement at the end of an accounting period
(say once a month or once a quarter) of the total value of all goods
handled. The premium is then paid as a percentage of the total value
of goods. Lloyds, of course, is a huge insurance organisation in
London. Within this organisation,
underwriters, or insurers,
work independently, although they are grouped in
syndicates.
When the lorry was found abandoned, with its spoiled load of office
furniture, the
adjusters came in. The underwriters employ a
firm of adjusters whose job is to assess or value the loss or damage.
The sum they give will not usually be as much as the full insured
value of the goods or property. They will
take into account, among
other things, the depreciated value: for example, the value of the
lorry has
gone down because it is two years old.
However, in this case the lorry is a
write-off, a total wreck
and impossible to repair.
But this does not concern Harper & Grant, because the lorry belonged
to Andersons, the transport company from whom they hire vehicles. But
the load of office furniture does concern them. They have already had
to replace the load, which was wanted urgently in Scotland.
When a company, or a person,
takes out an insurance policy it is very
often an
all-risks policy,
that is, it insures the goods or property against almost anything that
could happen. But most insurance companies
put in some exceptions,
like
outbreak of war or Act of God (something out of the
ordinary which cannot be considered a normal risk). When an accident
or robbery
takes place the injured party puts in a claim to the
insurance company. If the insurance company agrees to pay it is said
to
meet the claim. Notice, first you take out a policy,
then you put in a claim, and the insurance company, you hope, agrees
to meet the claim.
About two weeks after the following incident Mr. Buckhurst received a
telephone call from the police in Carlisle. Thanks to the driver's
description of the man who
asked him
for a lift, the police were able
to arrest the entire gang.
They discovered them in Carlisle, where they were busy changing number
plates and re-spraying two stolen lorries, so they will not be doing
any more hijacking,
for the time being, anyway. |
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GLOSSARY:
lorry (UK) = truck (US): a big vehicle suitable for transportation
or hauling (camión);
hijacked: taken by force a vehicle in transit either to rob it
or divert it to an alternate destination (secuestrado);
insurance brokers:
brokers acting
as agents between the client and the insurance company
(corredores de seguros);
underwriters:
people who take the risks of insurance. If there are no
claims they make a profit. If there are a large number of claims they
make a loss
(aseguradores, compañía de seguros);
syndicates:
a group of people working together and pooling their
resources; in this case a group of insurance underwriters
(sindicatos);
adjusters:
an independent firm who assess the damage to property,
etc. (ajustadores,
reguladores);
to take into account: to consider, to pay
attention to (considerar, tener en cuenta);
to go down:
to depreciate (depreciarse, disminuir el valor);
write-off (desastre)
something which can no longer be considered to have any
value. In
this case, a lorry or truck
which has been so badly damaged that it can be
written off
(dado de baja);
to take out: to
obtain a legal document
(asegurarse, contratar un seguro);
all-risks policy:
a policy which covers all possible normal dangers with
the exception of war, Act of God, etc.
(póliza contra todo riesgo);
to
put in:
to establish (colocar,
establecer normas, presentar quejas, papeles o pedidos para la
aprobación);
outbreak:
a sudden violent spontaneous occurrence (estallido, brote);
to
take place:
to happen
(ocurrir);
to meet the claim:
to pay the amount asked for
(pagar o cancelar el reclamo);
to ask for:
to request
(pedir);
for
the time being: temporarily, for the moment (por el momento,
por ahora). |
