16
Apr

Home sweet home is the best place on earth. But what if an incident causes damage to your home or office? The insurance claims process can be overwhelming and time-consuming, so why not have a representative that advises you and provides you the positive outcome you are looking for.

A public adjuster is a professional claims handler/claims adjuster who advocates for the policyholder (the claimant) in appraising and negotiating an insurance claim. They are licensed by the State Department of Insurance and can legally represent the rights of an insured during an insurance claim process. Their technical expertise and ability to interpret, sometimes ambiguous insurance policies, allow property owners to receive the maximum settlement amount of their claim.

Typically, a policyholder considers hiring a public adjuster when one or more of the following conditions exist:

1. You don’t have the time to deal with the demands of the insurance company.
2. You need help documenting damage to buildings, contents & any additional expenses, while expediting your claim with the insurance carrier.
3. You want to obtain a more satisfactory claim settlement.
4. You experience difficulty in understanding your policy and need a professional to evaluate insurance policies to determine what coverage applies to your claim.
5. You want someone to oversee and accelerate the restoration process to your residence or business operations.
6. You want to avoid the stress of engaging in an adversarial role with your insurance carrier.
7. You experienced severe damage to your property, complicating the claims process.
8. Your insurance carrier settlement offer appears inadequate based on your coverage.
9. Your insurance claims adjuster is discouraging you from hiring a public insurance adjuster.
10. You need assistance in estimating business interruption losses and extra expense claims for businesses.

Policyholders may benefit more from engaging the help of a public adjuster early on in the claim settlement process, but can still hire a public adjuster at any time to negotiate a higher settlement amount. A public adjuster can also re-open a claim and negotiate more money if a discrepancy is found within one year of the claim being settled.

Without proper representation, there may be additional coverage you are entitled to that you may not be aware of. With insurance claims, a policyholder should beware they do not agree or sign anything presented to them by their insurance carrier that they are not totally comfortable with. 

The examples and perspective in this article are the opinion of Claim Ally. Claim Ally Does Not practice law nor does it provide legal advice.