Adjuster Profile:
Melanie Austin does what it takes
By Joan Barrett, Market Share
January 2008

Melanie Austen thought that she could do just about anything, and stated that to the people at CSAA in Chico who hired her. She says now that she didn’t consider then that she may not be able to do anything that was asked but the fact remains that she has done just that - anything that was required.

Melanie was a bookkeeper with 4 kids when a divorce forced her to find a career. Resuming her college studies, she took classes feverishly during intersession and summer school to get her degree in 2 1⁄2 years while she worked 3 part time jobs. With a Business and Marketing degree in hand she found work at the Chico office of CSAA in the Touring Department and found that she loved the company and its culture.

A stagnant job market in Chico forced Melanie to accept a transfer to Sacramento with CSAA’s cashier office with the promise to stay in that position for six months. The longer she observed the insurance department and the adjusters; she decided that was the course she wanted to take. A transfer to the Woodland office and an auto adjuster’s desk was the next step into claims.

“AAA had great training that was all-inclusive,” Melanie remembers, “but nonetheless, upon arriving in Woodland, they handed me a flashlight and a sheet and said, ‘here you go’.” She did what was required.
When she was transferred to the Florin office she met Charles Gabbani, who was adjusting multi-line losses for CSAA, and now works with Melanie at CSE Insurance. “Nothing fazed him, absolutely nothing did, or does!” Melanie laughs.

She began to adjust both auto and homeowner losses and was moved to CSAA’s Bicentennial office, where Nick Bomarito was the supervisor who helped Melanie reach the next level in claims handling.

“Besides Nick, Marian Sigmund and Kathleen Silvers both taught me a lot about policy and people handling in my 8 1⁄2 years with CSAA. I owe them all a great deal.” The reorganization at CSAA came about as Melanie received an offer to join CSE Insurance in the property department. The invitation came her way because she always did what was needed.

She learned more about commercial property at CSE, particularly Homeowner Association policies which she says she enjoys because they are all so different.

“At CSE I have been able to learn from the PLRB association and have expanded my knowledge base through their research.” Melanie continued, “Steve Moricca was handling large loss claims for CSE and was instrumental in offering training in those areas. I find that while the CCNC seminars are useful, I seem to get more out of the PLRB sessions because they seem to get deeper into the subjects and are more informative. All education is important because it sharpens your responses to the work that you are doing.”
In addition to attendance at the claims conferences that she can manage, Melanie is one course away from her AIC designation.

Since CSE has become a more diverse company offering innovative products such as ‘identity theft coverage’ and ‘equipment breakdown coverage’ their scope is bound to expand beyond the same old-same old.

“Technology has become a catalyst for increasing expectations and we do all we can to stay ahead of customer expectations, but it gets tougher to do that. Smaller staffing stretches resources to make it even more challenging,” she explained. “We all live on the thanks that come from people relieved to have their damage corrected,” Melanie said. “I think that being a woman makes it more likely to take the loss of others to heart.”

Melanie was adjusting a CSAA loss for an older couple in Arbuckle years ago when they mentioned that they had a small rental unit on their property. As it turned out, Melanie moved in with the kids and found she loved the small town atmosphere of Arbuckle and while she’s not a golfer, she likes the activities at the Arbuckle Golf Course and helps out there regularly. She has now moved on to another home in Arbuckle, but maintains her close relationship with the surviving husband of the couple that were her landlords for three years.

All of her four children are married, the last unmarried son became a husband as of November 30th of this past year and “all of them are well and happy and married to wonderful people. I’m so fortunate.”
Melanie’s new love interest is her 15 month old grandson who lives in Chico with her daughter and son in law. She travels to Chico to see him as often as possible. Her eldest son moved to San Antonio to manage the new flagship golf course for the PGA but the families of the kids remaining in California are close and see each other often, Melanie said with pride.