What is a Public Adjuster?

Greg
Hey, I’m Greg cannon with Coppermark Public Adjusters.

Stephanie
And I’m Stephanie Lee, we get asked all the time, what do you do? What is a public adjuster? So today, we’d like to take the time to explain to you exactly what we do, and what public adjusting means.

Greg
We can go back to the definition with the state hand and get uptight about it. But I think explaining what we do in layman’s terms is going to be more beneficial. We investigate properly investigate and negotiate Insurance Claim settlements for property owners, the actual people who are holding the policy, we don’t work for the insurance company, we don’t work for third parties generally, but it’s the property owners that need the help

Stephanie
both residential and commercial. So when you have a problem with your claim is usually when people call us, you can call us before you ever file a claim. And we can take over that client from start to finish file it for you settle it for you. But people don’t typically call us unless they have a problem. insurance company says I don’t have any damage or it’s not covered. You also may be thinking Well, my contractor said that they could do that for me to an extent. And sometimes contractors can, their area of expertise is the damage and how to repair it. And so they can show the insurance company your damages. But then when it comes down to talking about policy, that’s something they’re not allowed to do. We actually have the education and have taken a state test to have a license that allows us to talk about your policy with your insurance company.

Greg
When do you need a public adjuster, that’s the key here. And most public adjusters work on a contingency meaning a percentage of the insurance settlement. And so there’s not a lot of people out there willing to give up a percentage of their insurance settlement unless they’ve hit a wall or they are in a position that the insurance company has put them in giving them no other choice. So when you need a public adjuster is relative. If it’s a commercial claim, say if you’re a property manager or a property investor, you’re going to want a public adjuster from the very beginning, you’re not going to want to have to sit there and mess with the investigation, the proofs of lost paperwork, the analysis of the policy, the analysis of the expert reports, all that stuff, you know, leave it to us, we get hired for things like that, on the other side of that coin, not coming from the beginning. But when the insurance company has forced you into a court and basically said, No, we don’t feel like paying you today. That’s when it’s time to get a public adjuster involved when there’s a coverage dispute. They’re trying to offer you a repair, or they’re trying to say you have old damage or wear and tear or mechanical damage, things like this. This is where a public adjuster is hugely beneficial because it’s our job to review and translate the claim for you and translate your policy to determine whether you’re covered or not.

Stephanie
Absolutely. I mean, basic residential policy is anywhere from 20 to 40 pages and then you look at a commercial policy that can be over 200 pages. And these are designed to be confusing to your average person because that allows loopholes for the insurance companies. Now when we get involved or heaven forbid it has to go to court. The policy is construed in the policyholder’s favor. So that means that if you don’t understand something, and it’s not easily understood by the average person, then it’s in your favor. That helps in a lot of ways. But these insurance companies are supposed to be writing policies, that’s easy for everyone to understand and they just don’t mean you could have five different places in the same policy giving coverage taking it away. And nobody knows what’s what and so that’s our area of expertise is to read through it and tell you exactly what you have coverage for and what you don’t we do claim reviews for free. So if you have any questions, call us. Email us. We will look at your policy we will look at your claim and we will tell you what we think the best course of action is. Our number is 855-45-CLAIM.

Greg
You’re in better hands with the public adjuster