Updated On: October 12, 2010
Have you ever wondered what an Insurance Claims Adjuster actually does? The insurance companies have their own adjusters that go out to your home, or place of business, or body shop if the property in question is a vehicle of some description. They take notes and pictures of the type of damage and any subsequent damage that may have occurred as a result of the initial damage. For example if there was a fire in your home, it isn’t just the property that was burnt, there could be scorch marks on other areas due to heat or smoke damage to clothes or other articles. So they have to look at the situation as an overall picture.
However; sometimes they do not take into account that maybe only a few things such as kitchen cabinets were destroyed, but maybe due to the design or for whatever the reason those cabinets were unique in some way so now all the cabinets need to be replaced, if they are not then the value of the home is decreased. This is where you start running into problems, because the burden of proof of the damage is solely on the consumer. The insurance company does not need to prove anything and if the Insurance Claims Adjuster does not understand why all the cabinets need to be replaced if they are not damaged the insurance company will not pay for everything. How do you convince the insurance company to pay for everything?
This is the time that you would use a Public Adjuster. They are trained for these very types of scenarios, as well as having the overall knowledge of how to deal with the insurance companies. The Insurance Claims Adjuster reports on the damage and assesses the cost of repair or replacement, the insurance company wants to pay the least amount they can get away with. So what do you do? The Public Adjuster puts together the proof in a comprehensible presentation to the insurance company and in a lot of cases takes on a fight that otherwise you would probably have had to deal with yourself and more than likely would lose.
I am sure there are a lot of people that if they had have been aware of Public Insurance Adjusters in the past they would not have hesitated to use them instead of going up against the insurance companies by themselves. Did you know that the insurance companies pay out a fraction of what they could? So if the insurance company has an adjuster doesn’t it make sense that you should have a Public Adjuster to rebut the Insurance Claims Adjuster? Don’t waste your time and lose even more money because you don’t have the right kind of representation.