Pete was lying down on the bed watching the late-night news in his bedroom; he was recuperating from a knee operation. At that late hour, he was already dozing off and almost drifting to sleep when he heard glass breaking and furniture falling apart in his living room. A deer had barged in, crashing through his back glass door. It had gone into his living room and had caused massive damage to furniture, antiques, and many other family gadgets.
The animal had cut itself barging in through the glass screen door, but the blood splatter all over the place was only the beginning of what he was yet to discover. While the poor, panicky, injured deer was desperately looking for a way out of the living room, it had started crashing into things. It knocked over an antique grandfather’s clock. It broke a glass dining table, long enough to seat 8 people, an antique wooden inlaid end desk, and had also broken two antique Turkish porcelain lamps. The deer’s blood was all over a white couch, on an oriental rug, the floor, and on the walls, everywhere!
Pete’s home had hardwood floors. Think about how the hoof must have put scratches and gouges on those floors as the anxious deer attempted to remain stable on its foot while trying to escape its predicament.
Pete managed to get a hold of the deer and brought it pinned to the ground. His wife tip-toed into the living room. Being scared and hearing all the commotion from the living, she summoned the courage to know what was happening. Pete signaled her to open the main doors, and they were able to let the deer out through the door into the night.
After letting the dear out, Pete inspected the damage. The whole place was bloody. The walls, rugs, floor, upholstered furnishings, and quite everywhere you looked. It meant that everything in the deer’s path had become soiled and damaged, alongside the antiques, collectibles, and many different household items kept in that room. Pete requested Kelly, his wife, to get him his phone, and he began taking pictures of everything, right from the rear door.
First thing in the morning, Pete placed a call to his insurance Agent, who organized for the organization’s Claims Adjuster to pay a visit to Pete’s home to inspect the damages done to Pete’s house. The Adjuster scheduled a stop immediately and made a few measurements scribbled some notes, and informed Pete that the insurance organization would be in touch with him as soon as possible.
Pete handed him copies of the snapshots, showing all of the damaged items in the room, in the condition right after Pete and Kelly removed the deer from the residence. The Adjuster and Pete both felt the total price to restore the antiques and thoroughly clean the living room would be approximately $5,000.00. The Adjuster’s face brightened up with a smile visibly showing on his face. Don’t blame Pete; he did not know any better at the time!
A day later, an antique sales and restoration firm gentleman arrived and inspected the broken and damaged antiques. He instructed Pete that sure, they could repair all the furniture and antiques. Still, first, he needs to take them back to his workplace so that his craftsman can come up with an estimate of the fees to restore the furniture, clock, porcelain, and the other broken items before he can submit an estimate to Pete. He agreed.
Frank from antique restoration services continued the discussion, asking Pete if “his Adjuster” had been out to investigate the damages. Pete said yes, that the “insurance Adjuster” came around a day earlier to inspect the cracks and that he, Pete, was waiting for the estimate to proceed to fix the damaged furniture.
Frank said, “No, I’m not talking about the insurance company’s Adjuster, your Adjuster.” Since Pete has never submitted an insurance claim in his life, that was his first time hearing of a “Public Adjuster.” Frank, who had just recently started working as a Public Adjuster, then explained what Public Adjusters do. “They work for the homeowner, not the insurance company,” he said.
Frank proceeded to explain to Pete that there were three types of Adjusters:
1. Independent Adjusters
2. Insurance company Adjusters and
3. Public Adjusters
Frank explained to Pete the relevance and roles of each of the Adjusters. In addition, he said that Independent Adjusters and Insurance Company Adjusters serve their primary purpose: protecting the interests of their companies. In contrast, a Public Adjuster’s primary goal is to represent and protect the homeowner’s interests while the Public Adjuster negotiates a claim with the homeowner’s insurance company.
“Since you would never visit a courtroom without the aid of any attorney, you wouldn’t face the IRS without engaging an Accountant or CPA. Why would you even think of dealing with your insurance company, made up of salary- earning
Claims Adjusters and their team of insurance experts whose main aim is to mitigate and reduce the size and proportion of your claim? Most especially in a complicated aspect like homeowners insurance?”
This information prompted Pete to want to go ahead and have a Public Adjuster represent him, and the Adjuster defined the entire claims procedure to Pete. The Public Adjuster then reviewed and assessed all damages, took all necessary measurements and photographs of the affected area, and calculated the actual damages to Pete’s belongings and cost estimates required to restore the affected area to mint condition.
Furthermore, the Public Adjuster met face-to-face with the insurance company’s Adjuster on many occasions; he handled all paperwork relating to the claims and every other negotiation with the insurance company.
Pete was lucky enough to engage the Public Adjuster when he did. Because the Public Adjuster was knowledgeable of claims processes and all the nitty-gritty of what the policy covered and didn’t cover, in the end, it negotiated a total claim of $22,000 from the insurance company. That amount is about four times more than what the insurance company had initially come up with as claims. As would have imagined, even after Pete paid the Public Adjuster his fees, what was remaining was still nearly three times what the insurance company had set out to offer.
Pete now only needs to deposit the check, and the Public Adjuster will take charge of every other necessary thing that needs doing from thereon.
The conclusion and moral of the story is; never accept a claims statement offer from your insurance carrier. Get a hold of a Public Adjuster to take charge of the whole process on your behalf. In doing so, you’ll save yourself time, hassles, headaches, and every other inconvenience that come along with making your claim.
Prime Public Adjusters will save the day for you. Trust us as you drop your claim issues; new, underpaid, or denied!
