There are three main types of licensed insurance adjusters. The insurance company will have an adjuster on their staff. The staff adjuster’s main responsibility is to protect the interests of the insurance company. An independent adjuster is an independent contractor who is hired by the insurance company to be their representative during your insurance claim. An independent adjuster’s responsibility is the same as the staff adjuster, to protect the insurance company’s interests. Only a public insurance adjuster is licensed to represent you, the policyholder, during your claim. A public adjuster’s main responsibility is to protect your interests during the claim.
You Don’t Have to Go At it Alone
Preparing a claim can be extremely difficult, and time consuming. You must determine what coverage’s you have in your insurance policy. You must document the damages and provide proof of how much it will cost to have them repaired or replaced. Then you must negotiate with the insurance company to pay out the amount your covered losses are worth. The best thing you can do is hire a public adjuster to do all of these things on your behalf. Instead of using up all of your time and energy struggling with the insurance company, your public adjuster will do all of that for you.
It is in the insurance company’s best interest for a public adjuster not to represent you. They will often try to discourage you from hiring one. Another tactic they use is to offer a quick payout that is much lower than what you are entitled to. They know that you are probably in need of a solution now, and might not be able to wait the time it will take to get the maximum payout.
Established public adjusters are already familiar with the local insurance company representatives and their regional insurance adjusters. The public adjuster has most likely worked with these people before. They can come to an agreement on the insurance claim payout you will receive amicably, without all the delays and scare tactics that an insurance company might employ against an unrepresented policyholder.
How Much Would a Public Adjuster Cost?
There is no need to pay your public insurance adjuster up front. They usually work for a percentage of the payout. A typical fee would be around 10% of the payout amount. In the State of Florida there is a cap of 20% on the fee amount. Also, during times where a state of emergency is declared, the cap on the fee amount is 10%. Usually, the amount of the fee is actually less than the amount you would be losing by not being represented by a public adjuster. So, you really can’t go wrong.
