Richard was in his family room recovering from a knee replacement operation watching the news, dozing off and half asleep when he heard glass breaking and furniture falling in his living room. A deer had come crashing through his back screen door, gone into his living room and had caused considerable damage to antiques, furniture, and other household items.
The deer had cut itself coming through the screen door, but blood was only the beginning of Richard's problems. The deer panicked while desperately seeking a way out and began crashing into things. It knocked over an antique grandfather's clock, it broke a cut glass end table, it damaged an antique wood inlaid end table, and it broke two antique Chinese porcelain lamps.
It got blood on a white sofa, blood on an oriental rug, blood on the floor, blood on the walls, blood everywhere.
Richard's home had hardwood floors. You can imagine the hoof scratches and gouges that resulted as the frightened deer tried to secure its footing in its attempt to escape.
Richard managed to get the deer pinned to floor and was holding him in place when his wife walked through the front door, saw him on the floor holding the deer and questioned what in world was he doing lying on the floor with a deer in the middle of their living room. They finally got the deer out of the house.
After the deer had departed, Richard inspected the damage. Blood was everywhere. On the floor, walls, rugs, upholstered furniture, and pretty much everywhere you looked. Seemingly everything the deer touched was broken or damaged, including the antiques, collectibles, and most other household items located in that room. Richard asked his wife to get her digital camera and start taking pictures of everything, starting from the back door.
The first thing Richard did was call his Insurance Agent, who arranged for the company's Claims Adjuster to visit his home and assess the damage. The adjuster scheduled a visit two days later, made some measurements, scribbled some notes, and informed Richard that the Insurance Company would be back in touch soon. Richard gave him copies of the pictures, showing all the items and the room in the condition right after the deer was removed from the house. The adjuster and Richard both felt the total cost to repair the antiques and clean everything would be about $5,000.00. The adjuster was very happy with this total figure. Richard didn't know any better at the time.
The next day a gentleman from an Antiques restoration firm arrived and inspected the broken and damaged antiques, and told Richard that yes, all the furniture and antiques could be repaired. But he would have to take them back to his shop so that his craftsman could estimate the costs to repair the furniture, clock, porcelain, and other damaged items prior to his submitting his estimate. Richard agreed.
Dan from Antiques Restoration continued the conversation, asking Richard if "His Adjuster" had been out to inspect the damages. Richard said yes, the "Insurance Adjuster" had been out the day before and he was waiting for the estimate to repair the furniture. Dan, said, "No, not the Insurance Company's Adjuster, YOUR Adjuster". Having never submitted an Insurance claim, Richard had never heard of a "Public Adjuster". Dan, who himself had just started working as a Public Adjuster then proceeded to explain that Public Adjusters worked for the homeowner, not the insurance company.
Dan explained that there were three types of Insurance Adjusters:
• Insurance Company Adjusters
• Independent Adjusters
• Public Adjusters
He further explained that whereas the Insurance Company & Independent Adjusters were employed by, and representing the interests of, the Insurance Company, a Public Adjuster was someone who represented the homeowner's interests when negotiating a claim with their Insurance Company.
The friend continued: "You wouldn't go to court without the support of any attorney. You wouldn't face the IRS without the support of an Accountant or CPA. Why would you even consider dealing with your Insurance Company, and its salaried Claims Adjusters and team of other paid Insurance professionals whose primary goal is to mitigate and minimize the size of your claim payment, alone and by yourself?. Especially in an area as complicated and confusing as Homeowners Insurance".
This made sense to Richard, so he agreed to have a Public Adjuster represent him. The adjuster explained the entire claims process to him. In exchange for their fee the Public Adjustment Company:
• Reviewed as assessed all damage.
• Took measurements and photographs.
• Calculated the true damages to Richard's property, and how much was needed to restore his property to "Pre-Accident" condition.
• Met face-to-face with the Insurance Company's Adjuster on multiple occasions.
• Handled all paperwork.
• Handled all negotiations with the Insurance Company.
Because the Public Adjuster understood Insurance, understood what the policy did and did not cover, understood the Claims process, and knew what and what not to say to the Insurance Company....it negotiated a total claim payment of approximately $22,000 from the insurer. So, even after the Public Adjuster deducted his fee, Richard ended-up with nearly 3-times what the Insurance Company originally offered. And basically all Richard had to do was deposit his check. The Public Adjuster did the rest of the work.
The Moral of the Story Is This: Before you ever accept a claims settlement offer from your Insurance carrier, you should at the very least speak with a Public Adjuster to see if it would be to your benefit to use a Public Adjustment Company.
P.S.: As a result of this real life story, Richard decided to pursue a new career as a Public Adjuster and, after 14 months in the business, has risen to the position of Regional Manager of the largest Public Adjustment Company in the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment