Updated On: June 6, 2011
An Independent Adjuster is an insurance adjuster that works on behalf of the consumer and not the insurance company. Their process and approach is very similar to a law firm although they are not attorneys. They cannot give you legal advice they can only inform you of your rights. When you think about it, would you sue someone and then allow the other parties attorney to tell you how much you are entitled to. This is what happens when you allow the insurance company to determine how much you are awarded.
Insurance companies are first and foremost a business and as such they top priority is to operate as a successful business, which means they need to show at profit at best and breakeven at worst. To do this they need to be very conservative on their payouts. According to some that have access to certain information, insurance companies only pay out a portion of what they really could; if the consumer had an Independent Adjuster representing them they are more likely to receive more than the 25% to 40% that is typical of an average payout.
You may wonder how this is possible. Well the average consumer is probably unaware of the fact the burden of proof is on the consumer and not the insurance company. Chances are that at most as an ordinary consumer you may have only claimed on your insurance once or twice during your adult life whereas; obviously the insurance companies are doing this all day long. With an Independent Adjuster acting as your advocate you are in a much better position than on your own. Like the insurance companies an Independent Adjuster is also doing this all day long and is just as familiar in the process as the insurance company.
If you are wondering what exactly an Independent Adjuster does besides advise you of your rights, they will go over your policy and explain the different clauses to you as well as look at the coverage you have and the limitations of that coverage. They will also show you how to present the proof to the insurance company in a way that the insurance company will have very little rebuttal if any. It has been determined in a study recently that claims where an Independent Adjuster has been used have raised from 547% to 747% with an increase of the average settlement.
When you pay your insurance premium month after month, year after year, it isn’t right that when you need to have the protection of the insurance that you have been paying for all that time to get short changed because you don’t know the procedures, or understand the terminology well enough to be able to argue your case. In fact you shouldn’t even need to argue your case but that’s just the way it is. With an Independent Adjuster working for you that will eliminate all of those problems as that is part of their job.