There's a vintage saying one of the practitioners of the legal profession, "anybody who represents themselves in a court of law has an idiot for a client." This is frequently also true in regards to negotiating home damage claim by having an insurance company as well.
When the common insurance consumer has an insured property damage loss, they frequently don't know how to prepare, adjust or submit their claim. All of the insurance buying public must rely on the "Insurance Company's" "insurance adjuster" to accomplish this for them. That is an enormous mistake. What the common consumer does not understand is that it's the insurance adjuster's job to present "reasonable" settlements to policyholders and claimants. The average consumer lacks the fundamental skills and necessary information to construct the building blocks upon which a state is made. An authorized and bonded Public Insurance Adjuster or PA can pour the footings and build the walls to make that happen. Are you wanting the home of straw, sticks or brick?
Knowledge is power, power is leverage. The more you or your own personal representative know, the more power and control you've in the claims process. With regards to the company, insurance adjusters receive two to four months of intensive training in claims settlement procedures and then continuous dollar saving training over the others of these career. All this training is to truly save the insurance company money. How will you compete with it?
Company Adjusters are trained to cut corners and save their company money. With the recent news about delay, deny and defend tactics being implemented by a number of the larger insurance companies it's obvious many companies are searching for even more methods to limit claim payments or avoid making any claim payments altogether.
When filing an insurance claim you need someone in your corner shopping for your interests. The objective in adjusting must be to obtain of the same quality a result as you possibly can, as quickly as you possibly can with as little hassle free as possible.
An insurance plan is really a legal contract. An insurance claim is really a request for performance under a legal contract. The problem most property owners face is not merely one of intelligence or determination but instead deficiencies in training, ability, information and understanding. Would you hire your gardener to remove your appendix? Then why could you represent yourself in an agreement negotiation.
If the insurance company gets their way, only the person representing the insurance company is considered the adjuster. When here is the case the policyholder receives his or her adjustment from a dedicated company employed, company paid, company inspired and company motivated adjuster.
In order to arrive at a reasonable adjusted settlement, each side needs to satisfy their own needs. The less information you've, the more likely you are to just accept the requirements of the insurance company as your own. To acquire a fair settlement you should determine and access your claim damage recovery needs. To acquire a fair settlement you should know your rights. A licensed public adjuster can help you achieve both of these goals. In the event that you don't know what you need or how to request it maybe you are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information provided or requested and surrender your requirements way too easily.
No body, not the Public Adjuster knows the end result of a claims settlement before the adjustment begins. As such no one can anticipate to what extent either party can give into the needs of the other. Knowledge and experience usually become the bargaining power leading to a closed claim file. The facts usually rise to the top as the claim is investigated. Claims adjusting should continually be approached from the career of strength and knowledge that merely a Public Adjuster can offer. Negotiating from a position of weakness is no option.
Insurance adjusters facing a knowledgeable public adjuster usually enter claim negotiations on a far more cooperative give and take basis. With this being the case there's a strong likelihood that every will strive to attain the normal goals and achieve a settlement that's fair to all or any parties.
The average policyholder eventually ends up coping with a state at the same time following a disaster such as a fire or theft. The psychological stress leaves most people in a state of confusion. What this means is they are not up to the task under these circumstances. It's very common to see people in a state of shock, confusion and helplessness after having a loss, especially after the death of a relative or cherished pet. An expert public adjuster must be emotionally detached from the problem and enter the claim with an amount head and competent ability.
The time of your own disaster is not the time for you to be considering all of this for the initial time. Contemplate it now and take comfort in the information a Public Adjuster may be there to protect your interest if indeed the unthinkable happens to you.
A Public Adjuster is no attorney or lawyer, although an attorney may be a Public Adjuster. The PA is really a negotiator been trained in the insurance contract and how to gauge home damage claim. Because they are not lawyers their fees are substantially lower. With regards to the state, Louisiana being a notable exception, the common public adjuster charges a fee equal to ten percent (10%) of the sum total claim settlement. Even though you have proudly handled the initial 1 / 2 of the claim yourself, they still obtain fee based upon the whole claim settlement. The largest reason for this really is they've to return and fix all the issues the unskilled self declared claim experts have left them.
This information is for informational purposes only and is never to be looked at as legal or professional advice. This information may be reprinted only in its entirety and employed by permission only with proper citation. It could be divided directly into more than one news letter articles provided that printed in its entirety overall.
All Rights Reserved © 2007 to the current by Elite Public Adjusters, Inc. and George N. Skidis, Jr. [http://elitepublicadjusters-us.com/]
Honorably Discharged from the United States Marine Corps, George went to school on the G.I. Bill and obtained three Associate Degrees and a Bachelor of Liberal Studies.
With 30 years experience in adjusting property claims, George became an authorized Public Insurance Adjuster (P.A.) in 1994. He currently holds P.A. licenses in Illinois, Missouri and Louisiana and has settled over 10,000 insurance losses during his career. From the small wind loss to commercial fires well over $ 500,000.00 George has a wide range of ability in property losses, policy interpretation and settlement values.
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