A Video Explaining the Duties of the Public Insurance Adjuster

Duties of the Public Adjuster

See the full video at https://youtu.be/AoJnf_MhiQI

Most policyholders do not have the in-house capability to investigate, evaluate, and negotiate significant property insurance losses. While some losses, such as a small fire loss requiring only minor repairs, may be dealt with easily, others, which involve more complex damages and different potential causes of loss, are much harder to assess. Resolving them may require expertise in understanding the scope of coverage provided by the applicable property insurance policy, scientific or other specialized background to determine the cause of a specific loss, the ability to determine the cost to repair or replace the damaged property, and the calculation of the amount of a time element (business interruption) loss.

In such cases, the policyholder may engage a public insurance adjuster (PA). PA’s are licensed by almost every state and their contract forms must be approved by the state. All PAs claim to be experts on property loss adjustment; most are. They represent only policyholders in fulfilling the duty to prepare, file, and adjust insurance claims. The PA should handle every detail of the claim, working closely with the policyholder and the insurer to obtain a prompt and reasonable settlement.

PAs usually charge a contingency fee, which they present to the insured as a fait accompli. But this fee is negotiable. The insured should try to lower it as much as possible. For a major loss, more than one PA will arrive at the site seeking a contract. A fee quoted by one can be reduced by seeking lower fees from the others. Rates can be negotiated from a low of 3% to a high of 40%, although the average charge is 10% to 15%. When considering a PA, the insured must take into account the fact that even if the insurer pays the full amount of the loss, the cost of the adjuster’s fee may not leave enough funds to fully repair the damaged structure.