{"id":30327,"date":"2026-02-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.resourcepro.com\/bulletin\/vermont-dfr-tightens-rules-on-virtual-claims-new-bulletin-206-puts-in%e2%80%91person-inspections-front-and-center\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:00:00","slug":"vermont-dfr-tightens-rules-on-virtual-claims-new-bulletin-206-puts-in%e2%80%91person-inspections-front-and-center","status":"publish","type":"bulletin","link":"https:\/\/www.resourcepro.com\/bulletin\/vermont-dfr-tightens-rules-on-virtual-claims-new-bulletin-206-puts-inperson-inspections-front-and-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Vermont DFR Tightens Rules on Virtual Claims: New Bulletin 206 Puts In\u2011Person Inspections Front and Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>VT<\/strong>| The <strong>Vermont Department of Financial Regulation<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/dfr.vermont.gov\/sites\/finreg\/files\/regbul\/dfr-bulletin-insurance-206_0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">REVISED Insurance Bulletin 206<\/a>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">expands prior guidance on virtual adjusting from auto claims to <strong>all<\/strong> types of insurance claims<\/span>, emphasizing that while virtual tools can speed claim handling, they often fail to reveal the full extent of damage and therefore cannot replace an insurer\u2019s duty to conduct a reasonable investigation and make prompt, fair, and equitable settlements under 8 V.S.A. \u00a7 4724(9)(D) and (F).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Key Points:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Insurers must provide an in\u2011person inspection by a Vermont\u2011licensed adjuster within a reasonable time if requested by a claimant or whenever virtual adjusting is inappropriate, and they may not refuse such an inspection because a claimant initially chose a virtual process; unreasonable delays in arranging in\u2011person inspections may be treated as unfair claim settlement practices. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For auto total loss claims, the Department clarifies that \u201cactual inspection\u201d in Regulation I\u201179\u20112 means an in\u2011person inspection by a Vermont\u2011licensed adjuster or appraiser, not merely review of photos or videos, and prohibits certain condition deductions (such as engine or transmission cleaning or tires meeting inspection standards), allowing condition deductions only for damage beyond normal wear and tear and requiring detailed documentation of any such deductions on the valuation report provided to the consumer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/dfr.vermont.gov\/sites\/finreg\/files\/regbul\/dfr-bulletin-insurance-206_0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here to see VT Insurance Bulletin 206<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22280,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"department":[252],"state":[292],"class_list":["post-30327","bulletin","type-bulletin","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","department-department-of-insurance","state-vermont"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resourcepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bulletin\/30327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resourcepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bulletin"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resourcepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bulletin"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.resourcepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bulletin\/30327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resourcepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resourcepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resourcepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=30327"},{"taxonomy":"state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resourcepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/state?post=30327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}