Disasters do not come announced, and that is why we prepare for such eventualities by taking insurance cover for our life, health, vehicles, home, and even education. Public adjusters and insurance prepare and protect us from possible financial losses.
The premium we pay in terms of money for any insurance is comparatively lesser to the cover we get. The insurance company we sign up with takes the onus of providing us the cover for a small premium because the percentage of claims made is very less.
However, at a time of the disaster, dealing with the damages and staking an insurance claim for it can be a stressful, time-consuming, and overwhelming experience.
Public Adjusters
Claim or public adjusters can be those working for the insurance company as in a staff adjuster of the insurance company itself, an independent adjuster hired by the insurance company to handle all its claims, a public insurance adjuster who works independently for the policyholder.
The insurance professional who works on behalf of the clients (and not the insurance company) to process the claim to ensure the client gets the maximum as a settlement is the Public Adjusters. The insurance company will try to settle for less, as they stand to gain; hence, it’s always better to have a public adjuster work on your settlement.
What Does a Public Adjuster Specialize in?
A public insurance adjuster can specialize in any area of insurance coverage, some of these are as follows:
Damage specialist
A damage specialist agent or broker works either for the insurance or the brokerage company and investigates the damage and loss before recommending a settlement. These can be personal or commercial loss or even both.
Property damage claims specialist
When there is damage or loss of property due to natural calamities like flood, forest fire, hurricane, etc., the specialists study the damages and recommend settlement to the insurance company.
They review the claims in detail, assess the damages, prepare reports, question the claimants for details, and work out a monetary benefit.
Professional Loss Adjusters
Policyholders can appoint professional loss adjusters to manage their claim for any loss claims they might have with the insurance company. These professionals can negotiate with the insurance company for the policyholder to suggest the best monetary benefit.
We can choose from one of these public adjusters based on the claim we have.
6 Things to Consider Before Hiring a Public Adjuster
Apart from these, there are few pointers to be considered while choosing your public adjuster.
1. Know your public adjuster
It’s very important to know as much as you can about the public adjuster before you hire them. If you are approaching a firm that employs public adjusters and assigns them to the claimant, then;
· Find out the public adjuster the firm has assigned to work on your claim.
· If you are hiring an individual public adjuster, ensure you know all about the person before hiring.
Consider the following things
o Check on the educational qualification of the public adjuster. Though it is not a requirement to be a public adjuster, it matters in dealing with claims
o Check on the validity and relevance of the license of the public adjuster.
o In this profession, experience matters a lot; hence, it is important to hire a public adjuster who has worked on similar claims before. Verify the number of years the public adjuster has practiced.
o Check on how familiar the public adjuster is about the locality you stay in. Knowing the surroundings helps in providing a better assessment of the damages and thereby suggest monetary benefits accordingly.
o The public adjuster should be confident, approachable, and able to answer your queries to your satisfaction.
2. Ensure the public adjuster hired has covered you for various insurance that assists during claim discharge.
During assessment by the public adjuster at the site of the loss, accidents can happen as a remnant of the natural calamity. To protect you from such eventualities, the public adjuster should have relevant insurance for such omissions, errors, liabilities, and workman’s compensations.
3. The public adjuster should be abreast of the applicable laws
The state laws determine the interpretations of insurance policy followed, and these keep changing from time to time. An active public adjuster who is abreast of the changing laws will be involved in professional interactions within the industry. Check to ensure the public adjuster you hired is an active member of these groups and known by the professionals for his participation.
4. Is the insurance company reputed?
When you hire a firm to handle your claim, you need to verify the credibility of the firm and the person who is assigned the task of a public adjuster. You can check who runs the firm, whether it is a one-person company, or there are several employees hired by the firm who can support the claims requirements like engineers, building consultants, forensic accountants, content specialists, etc.
Choosing a public adjuster is an important decision as it can make your experience good or bad based on the person hired by you.
5. Do they have good references?
Precaution is better than cure; hence, it is advisable to check the experience of the firm or public adjuster before hiring. Ask for references of clients who have had similar claims and speak to them. Check whether they were satisfied with the service provided or did they have any concerns unaddressed making their experience with the public adjuster unsatisfactory.
6. How much do they charge?
There is substantial variation in fees for any service rendered, and we tend to think lower fees are beneficial, it might not be the case always, a qualified professional confident of his capability can charge you higher fees.
However, unwarranted increases in fees with assurances of success under any circumstances should be verified thoroughly. Firms dealing with insurance claims have a fee structure for their various services, compare these rates with other such service providers before deciding on the public adjuster you hire.
