An adjuster is a person who assesses and evaluates an insurance claim for liability under policy terms. In simple terms, the adjuster is the person that helps you with your insurance claim. They are charged to evaluate it and determine what kind of liability an owner might have under their policy if any.
Their job entails determining what precautions need to be taken before compensation can become available, how much it will cost in total (including medical expenses), and if there are any additional damages done by negligence on behalf of either party involved that should have been picked up earlier, etc.
There are various kinds of adjusters. They might:
1. Represent an insurance company;
2. They might be hired by the claimant (public adjusters);
3. Or they could be independent.
Adjuster aspirants should finish a licensing test and course to be qualified for an adjuster license. They must have and maintain their licensures along with the education courses while in practice. Organizations abroad that process the insurance adjuster claims for the U.S based insurers are also expected to get an adjuster license.
There are two types of claims that are most often investigated. They are:
1. Property claims
2. Liability claims
Types of adjusters
There are three types of adjusters, they are:
Insurer adjusters
These adjusters work directly for insurers and several functions like:
1. Having the investigated claims by getting information from the claimant or any witnesses
2. Collecting damage repair estimates
3. Reviewing police and hospital records
4. Examining the property damage to determine the size of the company’s liability
It’s the insurer adjuster’s job to clear the several hundreds of claims that come to them each month, most importantly they must do their job without spending excessive company money or deceiving claimants.
Independent adjusters
They do similar work just like adjusters directly employed by insurers; however, they are mostly recruited on a freelance or contract basis to deal with claims from insurers who have no office nearby or adjuster or who have an excessive number of cases to deal with, usually during a natural disaster.
Public adjusters
Public adjusters are adjusters hired by the claimant. In cases with large money involved, these public adjusters help the claimant to get most of the settlement and then take a percentage as a commission.
In case you’ve never filed a significant insurance claim, the company adjuster may not know much about your case and would have just glanced at your paperwork on the go. So you must familiarize the adjuster with your case to get the best settlement. You can take photos of the damage and show them to the adjuster, get estimates from reputable contractors to fix the problem, and make sure they know all the applicable facts about the case.
If the settlement offered is practically short of covering the harm, don’t go ahead and deposit the check. Consider following their appeals process or hiring a public adjuster.
Public adjusters will usually make more assessments of damages and then give you a report that can be submitted to the insurance company. Even though every public adjuster may claim that they want to get you the best claim, make sure you find a trustworthy public adjuster.
Usually, public adjusters are known to take advantage of the inexperience of a homeowner to manipulate. However, public adjusters are also occasionally hired to evaluate the work of independent adjusters to ensure that the homeowner is receiving the best possible claim.
