Company, Independent and Public Adjusters – What’s the Difference?

Have you ever filed an insurance claim that appeared to take an eternity, only for the insurance company to be exceedingly difficult and give you the runaround? If you’ve ever been in that kind of circumstance, you are aware of the frustration that comes along with it. It may be against your best interests to rely solely on your insurance company.

Finding a representative for yourself may be the initial step in this process as a policyholder. It is crucial to understand the participants in the claim process and their roles.

Insurance adjusters will review and assess the damage to determine what is to be covered when your home or other structure has sustained damage. However, not all insurance adjusters are the same and it is important to understand the distinction among company, independent, and public adjusters.

A company adjuster, sometimes known as a staff adjuster, is a salaried employee of an insurance firm. It is their responsibility to investigate, assess, and resolve a claim for the insurance company. Desk adjusters and field adjusters are the two categories of staff adjusters.

Desk adjusters are called as such since they traditionally process claims while sitting at a desk somewhere in the world. Assume a huge storm blew away a part of your roof. To file a claim, you would contact your insurance carrier. They would have you speak with a desk adjuster, who would ask you various questions in order to establish the extent of the damage. They may also ask for images of the damaged section of the roof. The desk adjuster would then review the claim and value the loss.

If a desk adjuster receives a claim that is too vast or too complicated for them to evaluate the amount of loss, a field adjuster is dispatched. Field adjusters go out into the field to inspect the damage. Assume that the huge storm that blew away a portion of your roof also produced wind-driven rain, causing flooring damage. The flooring damage extended from the living room through a corridor, an office, and a portion of a bedroom. A desk adjuster would have difficulty determining the amount of the damage and necessary repairs over the phone, therefore the claim would be forwarded to a field adjuster.

An independent adjuster works for several different insurance companies and works as a 1099 independent contractor rather than a salaried employee. Independent adjusters are paid either a specific “daily rate” or, more commonly, a fee schedule in which they are paid a percentage of fee that the adjusting firm charges the insurer. They frequently operate for a private adjusting firm and are called in when reinforcements are required. An Independent Adjuster’s responsibility is to represent the insurance company’s rights as they handle your claim.

An independent adjuster will examine the facts of your claim and your policy, just like any other adjuster, to decide on fair reimbursement. An independent adjuster’s objective is to provide you with the lowest settlement amount that, under the terms of your insurance policy, they are legally required to offer. They are engaged to expedite the processing of claims, particularly during catastrophic occurrences such as hurricanes or hail storms. An independent insurance adjuster is only permitted to represent the insurance company and never the homeowner.

When you file an insurance claim, your provider may either assign one of its own adjusters, sometimes referred to as staff adjusters, to handle your case or they will employ an outside adjuster to assess a claim. They frequently attempt to reduce the amount of insurance claims against property damage in order to save the insurance company money. They are specifically taught and compensated by the company to do so.

Public adjusters work exclusively for the insurance policyholder. Policyholders hire public adjusters to ensure that they achieve the greatest possible settlement on their claims. You might want to employ a public adjuster if you need assistance managing your claim or if you think your insurance company’s offer is insufficient. Once your own public insurance adjuster is recruited, he or she will start negotiating with your insurance provider or the independent adjuster that the insurance provider has retained. They are your advocates. Even though they are not lawyers and cannot provide you with legal advice, they can give guidance and explain all the conditions of your insurance policy and give you advice on your rights. Policyholders can get assistance from public adjusters with many of the complicated procedures involved in a normal property insurance claim. A lot of claimants work with public adjusters to accelerate, document, file their claims, and achieve the highest compensation possible, as well as to support them during the full claims procedure.

Public adjusters don’t work for free, of course. Public adjusters are licensed experts with a specialized skill set. However, the majority of public adjusters do not impose upfront costs or hourly rates. Public adjusters often charge a flat fee of roughly of the total claim settlement sum. There are limits to the percentage that public adjusters can charge, and these vary from state to state.

State regulations restrict public adjusters’ authority to modify property insurance claims and ban them from adjusting liability claims. Individuals in some jurisdictions can hold both an independent/staff adjuster license and a public adjuster license at the same time, but not for the same claim. Other states, alleging a conflict of interest, prevent an individual from holding both an independent/staff adjuster license and a public adjuster license at the same time.

It is critical to understand the value that a trained licensed public adjuster can bring to your claim. The more complex the claim and the greater the damage to the property, the more reason you will have to contact a public insurance adjuster. There can be a significant difference between an insurance claim awarded with and without the assistance of a public adjuster. A government study has shown that the settlement difference could be as much as 574% between those that hired a public adjuster and those that didn’t.

The difference in claim settlement is astounding when a policyholder chooses to hire a professional public adjuster. The important distinction between company, independent and public adjusters is usually their valuation of the loss. Because of the nature of their positions, company and independent adjusters are sometimes pitted against public adjusters at the negotiation table. Most homeowners are offered a lower compensation for their claims when their loss is adjusted by company or independent adjusters. Public Adjusters can usually negotiate a far greater settlement than is initially offered by the insurer’s adjuster, thereby allowing the policyholder to pay for the required repairs to their property and bring it back to its pre-loss condition.

In an insurance claim, you are likely to come across different kinds of adjusters. It is important to understand who these adjusters work for to know whose interests they are serving.

Public adjusters are the only adjusters that can represent you, the insured, in an insurance claim. Public adjusters are trained and experienced in loss adjusting, the claim process, and negotiating the best settlement for their clients.

JF Public Adjusters has a team of skilled, committed, and professional public adjusters ready to provide you with the best service possible so that you can receive the maximum settlement for your claim.