To Hire or Not to Hire: A Public Adjusting Tale

To Hire or Not to Hire: A Public Adjusting Tale

There’s A LOT involved with an insurance claim. First, the occurrence itself, then the documentation process, filling out forms and filing the claim with your insurance company, having them send over someone to survey the damage and put a dollar amount on the aftermath of your living room and kitchen fire. The entire experience is stressful, and you never know if you’re being given the entirety of what your insurance coverage pays in case of a covered peril. Small and straightforward claims can usually be filed and managed by an owner, but larger, more complex claims, such as fire damage or hurricane and flood damages, may be too large and carry many technical nuances that mean hiring a public adjuster on your side may be the best idea. Your insurer will hire an independent adjuster, but that person is being paid by the insurer for their professional experience. We know that having an expert in your corner can’t hurt, especially when it comes to your property.

Hiring A Public Adjuster

Looks after your best interest.

• Hiring a public adjuster ensures that you have someone helping you look after your best interest, which evens the playing field.
• Assuring that your vacation home or commercial property is receiving its due assessment and claim valuation.

Ease some stress and worry.

• Managing a claim on your own can be stressful and will force you so far outside of your comfort zone. Pushing you to look at things from an unattached perspective that you may not be capable of achieving. Whereas your adjuster can be completely analytical and speak from experience when evaluating and putting an amount due on your claim.

Time is money.

• This is especially true when we’re referring to an insurance claim, and if you get a bad settlement offer your public adjuster is there to help you secure the best offer under your coverages.
• Since time is money, the likelihood that you will receive a better offer more quickly is much higher with a public adjuster.
• An efficient public adjuster can speed up the time that it takes you to resolve any issues along the way since they know what to do when to do it and how to do it properly the first time.

Negotiating as an expert.

• It’s nice to have someone that will negotiate to ensure that your claim is paid properly, more expediently, and right from the onset. You won’t know all the ins and outs of filing a claim or understand all of the jargon used by your insurance company. Your public adjuster will already know what arguments your insurer will use and have responses at the ready to retort and rebuff their attempt to minimize the settlement you receive.
• Any delays that you encounter when working with a public adjuster may be to your benefit, this could happen because they identify damages that you hadn’t, or they feel they can negotiate using their skills in the field to better your financial outcome and ease some of the burdens of your claim. Also, they’re experts in insurance fine print, so they see things you might miss.

More financial settlement than if you go alone.

• It’s very likely that using a public adjuster will mean getting a higher settlement offer. Since this expert speaks the language of insurance they cannot be swayed if they see you’re offered a settlement below the damages that they quoted for you.
• The higher your settlement the more everyone gets, as you’re receiving more and your public adjuster’s payment relies on your settlement having grown through their work of examining and championing the value of your claim with you.

The way we see it, working with our amazing team is a win-win situation. If you’re feeling like your claim is not being handled properly or being reviewed correctly, the Gables Insurance Recovery team can help you review your settlement and claim, ensuring that you and your insurer have the same pre-loss and post-loss information that you need to move forward together.