Water damage, hurricane damage, tornadoes, fires, or just a simple burst pipe. Any number of things can cause damage to your property that are out of your control. That’s what insurance is for, no? You might think that, but many people are hesitant to file at all given the nature of insurance rates. File now, pay over time anyways due to raised rates and premiums. Insurance feels like a lose-lose for many hard-working people who simply want coverage on their investments. They pay their premiums month-to-month and when the time comes to actually need help from their insurance coverage, they may find that they are being grossly underpaid for their claim.
The Fundamental Misconception About Insurance
Have you ever seen a commercial for an insurance company? “Oh Thank God we had insurance” is always the feeling the insurance company wants to inspire in you. A family driving a car, a dramatic car accident—everyone is safe, but the car isn’t. It’s okay, we have insurance! The same goes for health insurance, homeowners insurance, and just about any other common insurance type you can imagine.
For insurance companies, paying out claims is a complex game of risk calculation, but you can be assured that if a company is offering insurance for an object, person, or circumstance, they have already worked out that the numbers are in their favor.
What do we mean by risk calculation? It means that insurance is a game of finding the greatest margins of what people will pay to insure and what the likelihood is it will actually need to be insured. Despite all the warm and fuzzy brand images most insurance companies love to foster, they really don’t have your best interests at heart and most insurance companies pay out claims begrudgingly.
What is a Public Adjuster?
A public adjuster in the simplest terms is an insurance professional that works directly for the benefit of the homeowner. As we discussed in the prior section, insurance companies will only pay out the minimal amount they need to. Insurance companies employ their own adjusters that represent the interests of the company, or they will hire independent adjusters to perform that function.
A public adjuster specializes in getting homeowners the most money for their claim. Public adjusters are your advocate in the insurance claim process. They are only able to collect a fee if they can successfully argue your case.
How Do Public Adjusters Help You?
In the simplest terms, an experienced public adjuster will help you receive more money out of the same claim. It’s more than that, however. A good public adjuster has the knowledge and skills necessary to advocate for you. A public adjuster has had thousands of claims experience and knows what the insurance company intends to do before they do it. Average homeowners have no idea what is involved in adjusting a claim, how much the claim is worth, why the claim is worth what it is worth and do not have the skills or experience necessary to successfully represent themselves.
Cue the Public Adjuster.
Public Adjusters can do all of that and more. Consider the scenario we briefly linked above about the burst pipe. It’s a simple problem but it can have disastrous consequences. The cost of fixing the pipe is not covered in your policy unless broken by vandalism, explosion or lightning or another covered peril but what about the damage the water caused? Water damage can create a plethora of problems that should be accounted for. Water damage can:
- Reduce the soundness of your walls in affected areas
- Stimulate harmful mildew/mold growth that is incredibly dangerous to your health.
- Depending on the location, compromise electrical wiring/outlets.
If you consider that the purpose of insurance is to restore your property or possessions to the state they were in before the incident, then simply fixing the pipe isn’t good enough. You need to take stock of what damages are a direct result of the incident and factor that into your settlement.
Florida’s Best Public Adjusters
Go with a public adjuster you can trust. Florida’s Best Public Adjusters have helped thousands of clients get better settlements so that they could fix their damages and recoup their losses. We have—as the saying goes, no skin in the game. We have no margins to be concerned about; we only earn a commission when you get paid.
Don’t believe us? Check out our local reviews from our clients!
Have you experienced property damage and feel that your insurance company has not offered enough to cover it? Contact Florida’s Best Public Adjusters at (800)-952-7693 for a free consultation.
