FAQs About Public Adjusters
- The first thing a public adjuster does is to perform a detailed assessment as to the loss that occurred to your property. This involves interviewing you, performing one or more thorough, in-person inspections of your home (concentrating on the damaged portions of same) and preparation of a written estimate as to your damages from a storm, burst pipe or whatever occurred to your home to serve as a counter-estimate to the insurer’s estimate. This ensures that when it comes to interacting with your insurance company, you are not negotiating solely based off the insurer’s estimate.
- The insurance company’s adjuster may leave entire categories of damaged areas or rooms off their estimates, so having your own estimate to use as a tool in these negotiations is particularly helpful because it ensures that the insurer does not control both the content (i.e. the rooms and areas of damage) and the numbers (i.e. the costs of the repairs) that are being discussed in any negotiations regarding the value of your claim.
- Coming up with a truly unbiased independent estimate involves having trusted subject matter experts like plumbers or roofers perform assessments in their area of your expertise. David will always utilize trusted subject matter experts if a particular client’s loss calls for it.
- A public adjuster will also perform a detailed review of your insurance policy in order to determine what potential coverages there may be and what, if any, problems you may expect from your insurer as to if they will try to argue either that your loss is not covered or else your damages are much more limited than what you actually suffered.
- Learn More about working with a public adjuster
- David will act as your liaison with your insurance company in every aspect. He will attend every inspection that is set by the insurer to review the damage caused by whatever loss you suffered and work with your insurer’s independent adjuster to attempt to agree on a scope and price of the damages that were caused by either a storm, a burst pipe or whatever type of loss you suffered.
- He will also oversee the negotiations with your insurer and personally conduct those negotiations to ensure you recover maximum compensation as a result of your insurance claim.
- David also has a team of capable and experienced office/administrative staff who assist him in checking with your insurer as to the status of your claim, ensuring that all requests for information from your insurer are timely received from the insurance company and that all documents and requests for information from the insurer are handled appropriately.
- He will also perform his own inspection so there is a competing measure of damages to the insurer’s estimate. David uses the same estimating software as the insurer’s adjuster, so there is an apples to apples comparison as to the damage that you suffered and you are not forced to rely on the insurer’s conclusions as to both the price (amount) and scope (type) of damage you suffered
- Virtually every insurance policy provides coverage for Additional Living Expenses or Loss of Use-these are expenses or the amount of money that it would take to compensate an insured homeowner for the inability to use all or a portion of your home while repairs are completed.
- For instance, if your roof needs to be replaced as a result of storm damage and you have to stay in a hotel as a result while your roof is being replaced, then you would be able to seek reimbursement from your insurance company for the cost of staying in that hotel.
- Many policies (most policies in Florida except those written by Citizens Property Insurance Company because it is a public entity) are required to also offer ordinance & law coverage.
- Law & ordinance coverage ensures that the insurer will provide you with sufficient funds to rebuild a damaged portion of your home to the current building code in place at the time your home is being repaired, regardless of what the building code required when your home was originally built.
- Like many other professions, public adjusters are considered to have a fiduciary relationship with their clients. This means that, above all else, a public adjuster must do what is best for his or her client.
- Therefore, if a public adjuster believes there is a 5% chance of the insurer making a higher offer than it has made to date and the best thing to do for the client is to accept the insurer’s offer, then the public adjuster has a duty to inform the client of that.
- This simply makes sense for business reasons too for public adjusters. Many public adjusters refer on referrals for a large percentage, if not the majority, of their business. David, just like any public adjuster, wants his clients to be as satisfied with his services as possible so that they will refer him to their friends, neighbors and colleagues who may have a need for a public adjuster.
- David will perform a free claim review of whatever damage occurred to your house. Like most public adjusters, he is compensated through a portion of whatever recovery you ultimately make from your insurer.
- It does not cost you anything until you have obtained a recovery from your insurer to retain David to serve as your public adjuster.
- There are also limits to what percentage a public adjuster can charge of an insured homeowner’s total recovery. These limits are set forth by Florida law and will not change regardless of how difficult the insurer ends up being when it comes time to discuss resolving your claim
- In many instances, David may even agree to cut his percentage in order to make a resolution happen in order to do right by his clients.
- A public adjuster is not an attorney. Therefore, a public adjuster cannot formally represent you in court or formally advise you as to your legal rights under a policy or prepare a legal document, like if you chose to sue your insurer or file a complaint against it with the Florida Department of Financial Services.
- Understand that, although your choice of attorney is absolutely your decision if your insurer just does not take your claim seriously and you wish to file suit, David has also worked with attorneys in the past and can often suggestions as to attorneys