Karen Barton
Claims Manager, Consolidated Insurance Brokers
When you need to claim, Karen deals with the insurer, keeps you informed and works towards a fair outcome, so you have someone experienced on your side.
Karen Barton is the Claims Manager at Consolidated Insurance Brokers in New Farm, Brisbane. She works with clients and insurers through the part of an insurance policy that matters most: what happens after a loss, when a claim has to be made.
Karen has been working on insurance claims since 2006. She started out supporting a broker with claims and worked her way up into claims management, and before joining Consolidated Insurance Brokers in 2014 she held claims management roles at two other brokerages. That has given her long-standing practical experience across both commercial and domestic general insurance claims.
Day to day she lodges claims, chases the ones that have gone quiet, helps clients work out what information the insurer needs, explains each stage of the process, and deals with the insurer on the client's behalf.
Her areas of experience include commercial and domestic general insurance claims, claim lodgement and insurer communication, preparing the information insurers request, explaining the claims process, and the policy and information issues that can affect a claim.
What Karen Has Learned From Claims
A claim is the point where the detail in an insurance policy becomes very real. Over her career Karen has watched delays and unwelcome surprises come out of the same few causes: policy information that was out of date, cover that was not enough, or a client who understood their policy to include something it did not.
That is why she encourages clients to review their insurance before a claim happens rather than discover a problem after a loss. Keeping policy information accurate, reviewing sums insured, and understanding the limits, exclusions and conditions that matter can make a real difference to how smoothly a claim runs.
Supporting Clients Through a Claim
When a client has to claim, Karen turns an unfamiliar process into a set of clear next steps. She explains what information is needed, deals with the insurer, follows the progress up, and keeps the client informed as things develop.
Her aim is to make the process as simple as it can be, and to help the client achieve a fair outcome within the terms of their insurance policy.
Why Claims Experience Matters Before a Claim
Karen's experience is useful long before anything goes wrong. Because she sees where claims get difficult, she knows why accurate policy information, cover that actually fits, and a proper look at the policy each renewal are worth the effort.
That claims perspective feeds back to clients and to the brokers here, so the questions worth asking get asked while there is still time to do something about the answers.
Experience & Qualifications
- Insurance claims experience since 2006
- Claims Manager, Consolidated Insurance Brokers, New Farm, Brisbane, since 2014
- Commercial and domestic general insurance claims
- Claim lodgement and insurer communication
- Following up outstanding claim matters and keeping clients informed
- Helping clients prepare the information insurers request
- Explaining the claims process and next steps
- Supporting clients through complex or stressful claims
- Claims Manager roles at two previous brokerages before 2014
What Karen’s clients wrote
Shown as written, newest first.
We have been using Consolidated insurance for many years. We use them for all our business and personal insurance. Having everything under the one roof with a reliable company saves us so much time, money and stress. The service is amazing, Gina, William and Karen are always there to help not matter the time of the day. I would highly recommend Consolidated Insurance Brokers. Thanks Sarah
We have a commercial property in QLD and our previous insurance broker (very big reputable broker which we utlised for about 30 years) was declining in their ability to communicate and provide us with good quotes. They were lazy and essentially provided us with an ever increasing quote from the same insurance company every year. We changed to Consolidated Insurance Brokers and Tracey was able to find us a far better deal with Chubb insurance. Communication was great and Tracey provided us with multiple options. Then about a year later, there was a terrible incident involving theft of external plumbing/damage. This was a very difficult claim as multiple plumbers failed to evaluate the full extent of the damage. Despite this, Karen and Tori from Consolidated Insurance Brokers helped us throughout the entire process with amazing patience and resulted in the desired outcome. After the incident, the security system of the property has been enhanced very significantly which you can't get enough of these days in QLD. I would highly recommend Consolidated Insurance Brokers to anyone I know and trust.
Great service. Good company level Thank you
I had water damage to my kitchen ceiling from the upstairs main bathroom. Karen from CIB helped me with the procedure to make an insurance claim and explained what I had to do. All went very well and the tradespeople restored my ceiling to a new condition. I am very pleased with the result.
Every claim and every premium is different - outcomes depend on your policy, sum insured and circumstances.
Talk to Karen about your cover
Ring our New Farm office on 07 3292 1100 and ask for Karen.