Dealership quickly recovers from an EF4 tornado
A powerful storm, a more powerful promise
When Barry Grossenburg drove away from his John Deere dealership the afternoon of October 4, 2013, he had no inkling that he’d return just hours later to find it destroyed by an EF4 tornado.
Luckily, nobody at the Wayne, Nebraska dealership was seriously injured. And wisely, Barry had purchased insurance from Sentry’s dealer operations business unit—the largest writer of John Deere dealerships nationwide.
Assessing damage, issuing a check—on a Sunday
Two days after the storm passed, authorities deemed it safe for Barry to survey the destruction. It was a Sunday. Sentry general adjuster Tim Romero was there. Within hours, Romero issued Barry a check to rent a temporary facility nearby. Barry's policy included 12 months of lost income insurance. In the days and weeks to come, it helped get his business—parts, sales, and service—again serving customers.
Sentry's proactive claims handling can help you
When general adjuster Tim Romero witnessed for himself the destruction, he had a heart-to-heart with Barry Grossenburg and his team to gain an understanding of their needs.
He went over their policy’s benefits and explained the claims process. Mark Zabel, Grossenburg’s account manager, had done a great job of getting them the proper coverages, Romero said. “When you do that, it gives me as an adjuster a lot to work with.”
In the wake of the storm, Romero ensured there was a timely plan of action in place. Debris was removed. Inventory was taken. Equipment was appraised. Damage was assessed. Demolition soon followed. “The faster we can cut checks, the better off the insured is going to be,” he said. “In less than 40 days, we had this loss buttoned down to the point where we had already paid out $13 million.
Rebuilt in less than a year, bigger and better
By October of 2014—less than a year after the tornado struck—he moved his operations into the new Wayne dealership. He and his staff threw a grand reopening party on January 8, 2015. Sentry, which stood behind Grossenburg as it does all its dealerships, was there. Not only had Sentry ensured Grossenburg’s 25 employees would continue to have their livelihood, it saw to it that the dealership would be better positioned to serve its customers.
