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Storm clouds don’t just darken the sky, they raise the duty of care. We dig into how snow, ice, fog, and heavy rain change what “reasonable” looks like behind the wheel and at the claim desk. From multi-car pileups to slow-speed parking lot crashes, we break down how to evaluate negligence when the surface and sight lines won’t play fair, why “I was going the speed limit” can still be careless, and how to separate traffic citations from true liability.

We trade real-world scenarios that every adjuster recognizes: black ice that looks like a harmless wet patch, diesel spills that turn intersections into turntables, and the moment a vehicle leaves the road and plows into a storefront or home. You’ll learn when property owners should use their own policies and subrogate, how ACV versus RCV plays out in third-party claims, and why clear early communication about pollution exclusions and sublimits matters when cleanup crews start excavating. We also cover parking lot exposures, pedestrian duties, and the impact of salt shortages on the reasonableness of maintenance efforts during active storms.

To help you work cleaner, faster, and fairer files, we share a five-point winter claims checklist: certified hourly weather data, visibility and lighting details, road maintenance timing and logs, vehicle damage pattern analysis, and statement consistency with physics. The takeaways are simple and powerful, conditions matter more than posted limits, tickets inform but don’t decide, and winter raises the duty to anticipate. Subscribe for more practical tools and share this episode with a colleague who could use a sharper winter playbook. What’s your toughest cold-weather claim challenge?

For more insights, you might consider a career in liability adjusting or if you're searching for reliable adjusting services, visit Auten Claims Management.

To explore more about Chantal Roberts and her contributions to the industry, visit CMR Consulting.

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