A public adjuster is an insurance adjuster who assists a policyholder who has suffered a loss in the preparation and presentation of the insurance claim. A public adjuster is the only type of insurance adjuster who is licensed to represent a policyholder during an insurance claim. The other types of insurance adjusters are called staff adjusters, and independent adjusters. These two types only represent insurance companies, and are only concerned with protecting the insurance company’s interests, not the policy holder’s. To make an analogy, if you were being sued in court would you just represent yourself? Or would you make a call to the plaintiff and agree to abide by what his lawyer says? Probably not! You would probably want to hire your own lawyer whose job it would be to look out for your interests. In the same way, it is a good idea to have a public insurance adjuster when going through the insurance claim process.
What a Public Adjuster Can Do For You
If you have suffered from a disaster, it might not be the best time to have to teach yourself how to properly present an insurance claim. You probably have many other things to take care of such as finding alternative housing, dealing with the emotional trauma of losing everything, in addition to any day to day responsibilities like going to work. A public adjuster can take over the responsibility of preparing your claim and presenting it to the insurance company. An experienced public adjuster will know how to read your insurance policy and understand what coverage you have, and will be able to get you the maximum payout that you are entitled to from the insurance company.
What Do Public Adjusters Charge?
Public adjusters work on a contingency basis. That means they charge a percentage of the insurance payout that you receive. This means you do not need to pay the public adjuster anything up front. The public adjuster gets paid when you get paid. This, of course, has the bonus of giving the public adjuster added incentive to make sure that you receive the maximum amount that you are entitled to in the shortest time possible. In Florida, the maximum percentage that a public adjuster can charge is 20%. For losses during any event that has been declared an emergency by the governor the maximum fee is 10%.
