Australasian Institute of Chartered Loss Adjusters President Michael Collins has started his own business.

The specialist liability adjuster and former detective officially opened Prominent Loss Adjusting Services in Wayville, SA, today.

A one-man-band for now, Mr Collins hopes to add one or two staff in future.

Despite challenges in other areas of loss adjusting, he says the liability market is as strong as ever.

“In our litigious world, all you ever hear about is no win, no fee,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “I want to build the business, but I also want to stay small and stay niche.”

Mr Collins served with SA Police for 17 years before joining loss adjuster GAB Robins Australia in 2002.

From 2007-13 he was with Crawford & Company, and he has spent the past two-and-a-half years as a senior liability loss adjuster with Adelaide-based YDR.

Mr Collins says his police experience is valuable for investigating complex and historic liability claims.

“You have to go back and find people and get them to talk to you. It’s about talking to witnesses and collecting evidence. It’s a specialist area that not a lot of people want to go into.”

Mr Collins’ dream of running his own business was inspired by his father Brian, who opened his own menswear store aged 58.

“He had been encouraging me to go out on my own [and] thankfully, I was able to tell Dad that I was going to do it just before he died in October last year.