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Why you need to hire a public insurance adjuster

There is an old saying among practitioners of the legal profession, “Anyone who represents himself in a court of law has a fool for a client.” This is also often true when it comes to negotiating a property damage claim with an insurance company.

When the average insurance consumer has a property damage loss insured, they often have no idea how to prepare, adjust, or file their claim. Most of the insurance buying public must rely on their “insurance company” “insurance adjuster” to do it for them. That is a big mistake. What the average consumer doesn’t understand is that the insurance adjuster’s job is to present “reasonable” settlements to policyholders and claimants. The average consumer lacks the basic skills and information necessary to build the basis on which a claim is made. A licensed and bonded Public Insurance Adjuster or PA can pour the foundation and build the walls to make that happen. Do you want the house of straw, sticks or brick?

Knowledge is power, power is influence. The more you or your personal representative know, the more power and control you have in the claims process. Depending on the company, insurance adjusters receive two to four months of intensive training in claims settlement procedures and then ongoing dollar-saving training for the rest of their career. All of this training is to save the insurance company money. How do you compete with him?

The company’s adjusters are trained to cut corners and save your company money. With recent news about delay, denial, and defense tactics implemented by some of the largest insurance companies, it is obvious that many companies are looking for even more ways to limit claim payments or avoid making claim payments altogether.

When filing an insurance claim, you need someone on your side who is looking out for your best interests. The goal of tuning should be to get the best possible result, as quickly as possible with as few problems as possible.

An insurance policy is a legal contract. An insurance claim is a request for performance under a legal contract. The problem most owners face is not one of intelligence or determination, but rather a lack of training, capacity, information and understanding. Would you hire your gardener to remove your appendix? So why would he represent himself in a contract negotiation?

If the insurance company gets its way, only the person who represents the insurance company is considered the adjuster. When this is the case, the policyholder receives their adjustment from a loyal company-employed, company-paid, company-inspired and company-motivated adjuster.

In order to reach a fair and adjusted agreement, each party must meet its own needs. The less information you have, the more likely you are to accept the insurance company’s needs as your own. To obtain a fair settlement, you must determine and agree to the damage recovery needs of your claim. To get a fair settlement, you need to know your rights. A Public Adjuster can help you achieve both goals. If you don’t know what you need or how to request it, you can become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information provided or requested and give up on your needs too easily.

No one, not even the Public Adjuster, knows the outcome of a claims settlement before the adjustment begins. As such, no one can anticipate the extent to which one party will give in to the needs of the other. Knowledge and experience often become the bargaining power that leads to a closed claim file. Facts often surface as the complaint is investigated. Claims adjustment should always be approached from the position of strength and knowledge that only a Public Adjuster can offer. Trading from a position of weakness is not an option.

Insurance adjusters facing a well-informed public adjuster generally enter into claims negotiations on a more cooperative give-and-take basis. With this being the case, there is a good chance that each will strive to achieve common goals and reach an agreement that is fair to all parties.

The average insured ends up dealing with a claim in the aftermath of a disaster, such as a fire or theft. Psychological stress leaves most people in a state of confusion. This means that they are not up to the task in these circumstances. It is very common to see people in a state of shock, confusion and helplessness after a loss, especially after the death of a loved family member or pet. A professional public adjuster must be emotionally detached from the situation and present the claim sensibly and competently.

The time of a personal disaster is not the time to be thinking about all this for the first time. Think about it now and take comfort in knowing that a Public Adjuster can be there to protect your interests if the unthinkable does happen to you.

A Public Adjuster is not a solicitor or attorney, although an attorney may be a Public Adjuster. The PA is a negotiator trained in the insurance contract and how to assess a property damage claim. Since they are not lawyers, their fees are substantially lower. Depending on the state, Louisiana is a notable exception, the average public adjuster charges a fee equal to ten percent (10%) of the total claim payment. Even if you have proudly handled the first half of the claim yourself, they still get their fee based on the full settlement of the claim. The main reason for this is that they have to go back and fix all the problems left to them by self-declared unqualified claims experts.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal or professional advice. This article may be reprinted only in its entirety and used with permission only with proper citation. It can be divided into one or more informative articles as long as it is printed in its entirety as a whole.

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