Fire Claim Adjuster – What You Need Know

Fire Claim Adjuster – What You Need Know

A fire claim adjuster is one who evaluates property loss on behalf of a policyholder and assists them in filing their fire insurance claims in exchange for a fee. A fire claim adjuster is a licensed professional who works for individuals and businesses – not insurance companies – and can be able to add tremendous value by letting you get the most out of your fire insurance policy’s coverage.

What Is a Fire Claim Adjuster?

A fire claim adjuster is one who is a property loss professional who is working on behalf of the policyholders. There are individuals and businesses who hire fire claim adjusters when they will need some assistance in initially filing a claim or when such individuals or businesses feel that the claim amount that is being offered by an insurance company is not correct.

There are various claims such as claims for flood, smoke, wind, and hurricane damage, along with damages that are brought about by other types of perils, and these can also be filed and be negotiated by other public adjusters. These property losses can cause other types of losses like a loss in business income, wherein these can be evaluated by public adjusters.

What Does a Fire Claim Adjuster Do?

A fire claim adjuster is an expert when it comes to the details and the language of insurance policies along with the filing and the adjusting of claims. These people commonly have previous experiences in the construction (including other related fields) and the use of sophisticated software to undergo an independent evaluation of a client’s loss of property. This fire claim adjuster is not just better equipped than the average policyholder in estimating the costs that have been incurred from a property loss because of fire – these fire claim adjusters also know exactly how to log and then submit initial and supplemental claims and they will do this for a policyholder.

The process of evaluation, completion, and submission of a claim is remarkably exhaustive for a policyholder. There are different item descriptions, quantities and costs that is can make a policyholder become unlikely to complete a form accurately with the same level of detail, this is especially since every type of property and claim are different.

The fire claim adjuster will also help his client to negotiate with the contractor to achieve better settlements with their insurers. The contact between a fire claim adjuster and the contractor is usually a direct contact and at the site of a loss. The communication with the policyholder is usually done through email so, when you have a fire claim adjuster throughout the process will not only protect you, the policyholder, from any possible pitfalls that are brought about by lack of experience. It is going to be a time-consuming process and it will be going to be labored by the adjuster.

Difference Between a Public and a Company and Independent Adjusters

Usually, insurance companies, businesses, and individuals avail the services of an insurance adjuster for them to evaluate the property loss and then eventually arrive at the dollar amount that a claim should payout. So, to better accommodate the different parties, there are three distinct types of insurance adjusters, and they are the company adjusters, the independent adjusters, and the public adjusters.

These company insurance adjusters are the ones who are employed by carriers and are sent to evaluate the claims that are being filed by their company’s policyholders. An independent adjuster is one who also works for insurance companies, however, they act more as consultants. These independent adjusters are usually being hired on an as-needed basis for the reason of a surge in demand or for some other specific expertise, like that of a fire claim adjuster.

Is it Necessary to Use a Fire Claim Adjuster?

For any person who is considering to fire for property fire insurance claim, such person should also think about hiring a fire claim adjuster, especially if the amount involved is high. You have little to lose as a policyholder, that is, there are many public adjustment firms that offer to visit a property loss free of charge in order to help a policyholder to determine the severity of the property damage and whether they should be filing for an insurance claim.

Even though the policyholder is already confident as to what the dollar value of the property loss is, it is still a good practice to get a second opinion. Frequently, adjusters will be visiting homes or business and then they will find that their loss estimate is far below what the value of the loss should be. These fire insurance adjusters are professionals and it is going to be unlikely that they will be leaving out costs in their calculations that a policyholder might forget or not know about. Say, for example, of the part of a roof has been destroyed because of the fire, a homeowner has the risk of miscalculating the cost of a new roof and also neglecting to include the cost of removing the damaged roof altogether.

It is important that you should submit an accurate, detailed claim in order for you to get the right amount of money from an insurance company in order to cover a property loss. You should also take note that even the best homeowners’ insurance companies will never volunteer to pay the homeowner more than the amount that is being claimed. Therefore, these policyholders need to be conscious that they are indeed claiming the correct amount and by hiring a public adjuster can help ensure that.

How Much Does a Fire Claim Adjuster Cost?

Although there is a lot of public fire claim adjuster who does not charge for a fee when it comes to site visitation and the determination as to whether they will work with a policyholder on a case. But, these fire claim adjusters will charge a fee for working with a policyholder in filing for a fire insurance claim.

Usually, a fire claim adjuster will charge you with a percentage of whatever a policyholders’ insurance carrier will ultimately pay for a claim. So, when a policyholder hires an adjuster that has a 10% fee and then the policyholder’s insurance company ultimately pays them with $100,000 for such claim, then the policyholder will then owe the public adjuster $10,000.

These fee percentages are going to vary between adjusters and are usually capped by the local state laws. So, for example, in the state of Florida, the fee for adjusters should not exceed 20% of a reopened or supplemental claim limit. There is also that 10% fee limit for claims that are resultant from events that are named as a state of emergency by Florida’s governor.

These adjusters are also capping the dollar amount that their fees can reach per claim. Typically, public adjusters who have less experience might limit their fees at $5,000 in every claim. For adjusters who are more experienced, they might cap their fees at a much higher amount, which may range from $10,000 or $15,000. So, for example, a public adjuster might collect for a fee of $15,000 for a claim that is valued at $350,000, instead of billing the policyholder of their normal 20% fee which would amount to $70,000. They might also negotiate for a lower percentage fee for claims that have large amounts like property losses that are amounting to $1 million or even more.

How Should You Choose a Fire Claim Adjuster?

There are many things that a policyholder can do in order to make sure that they are actually hiring a good public adjuster. The first thing that such a policyholder should check is if whether that public adjuster is legally qualified to practice. As such, a fire claim adjuster must be licensed in every state that they practice in. Just like other professionals, they should also be bonded and participate in continuing education coursed in order for them to maintain their licensure. You should not work with any other individual like a contractor or an attorney who is offering to provide you with claim adjustment services if they do not have the license to do so. It is essential that you keep in mind that practicing without a license is against the law and the license is an important benchmark of knowledge and qualification.

You should also consider if your adjuster will be handling your claim personally because there are some public adjustment firms who just sends one adjuster to do the estimation and another to follow up and then thoroughly analyze a claim. Thus, as a policyholder, you might be inclined to work personally with a single adjuster, but having a firm that is sending more than one person might also not be such a bad thing. There will also be some other adjusters who might be taking over a claim just because they are more experienced and they have the necessary expertise with a certain type of claim. Say, for example, one adjuster might know that their firm is more interested in working on fire insurance claims, but another fire claim adjuster with the firm might have more experience with fire damages and may be able to handle your claim from that point on.

You should also ask your public adjusters for referrals. This is because a referral from an acquaintance that has already worked with an adjuster is the best. But, if you know no one who can make a recommendation, you can just ask the fire claim adjuster under your consideration for the contact information of some of their previous clients. You have to see to it that the others have had a good experience while working with them.

You should also make sure that your fire claim adjuster has the right level of experience. You can do this by asking what types of claims that they have worked on and if they have had experiences with your insurer. You can also ask such an adjuster as to how long they have been practicing.

You should look consider the adjuster’s terms of communication. This is because, generally, a public adjuster handles a claim entirely for their clients, but there are some policyholders who might still want to have some level of involvement. So, you should discuss this with your fire claim adjuster before you finally decide on hiring them. You should choose an adjuster whom you know you are going to be comfortable communicating with in regard to the status and all other questions you might have of your claim.

As a policyholder, you should also vet public insurance adjusters the same way they would any other professional that they plan to hire. Aside from checking on references, you should also search for and read reviews of public adjusters online.

When Do You Need an Attorney and Not a Fire Claim Adjuster?

For some policyholders who are filing a claim and have received a proposed settlement from their insurer whom they see as unfit, they tend to think that they will need an attorney so that they can dispute their claim. If this is the case, they usually do not need such an attorney, what they need to hire is an adjuster.

Policyholders, in fact, hire fire claim adjusters at that point in the claim s process. Thus, the adjuster can then assist them in reopening a claim file and also as to file a supplemental claim for additional payments, if it deems necessary.

But, if an adjuster is going to negotiate back and forth with an insurance company and he still believes that the policyholder is owned a larger settlement than what the insurer proposes, then the policyholder might have to look into the possibility of turning the case into litigation. In the event that the policyholder decides that the cost of an attorney and filing a lawsuit against their insurance company is worth his or her desired settlement, then pursuing a lawsuit might be a viable next step. So if that policyholder hires an attorney and then seeks for the desired settlement through litigation, then there can be a good chance that their attorney will choose to use the policyholder’s adjuster as an expert witness.