Cocoa Public Adjuster

A public adjuster provides an alternative to the insurance company’s adjuster when you need to make a property damage claim. Like the insurance adjuster, your public adjuster will inspect the damage, estimate the cost of repairs, and prepare and file a claim with the insurance carrier. However, the public adjuster works for you and represents your best interests, while the insurance adjuster is tasked with minimizing costs for the insurance agency. As a result, many people choose to consult with a public adjuster rather than relying on the insurance company’s adjuster.

What Does a Cocoa Public Insurance Adjuster Do?

Here are some common situations where you might want to consider hiring a public adjuster:

• You have complex or high-dollar damage to your property. Expensive damage is often underestimated by insurance company adjusters, or the adjuster might comb through your policy looking for loopholes to avoid covering some of the repairs. The public adjuster will carefully examine and document all your damage and the reason repairs must be completed in a specific way (such as the replacement of a whole unit versus one part). Next, the public adjuster will send this completed claim to the insurance company, then take responsibility for answering their questions and negotiating to get you the highest settlement available.
• You and your claim don’t seem to be a priority for your insurance company. No one wants to feel like an afterthought, but sometimes your insurance company treats you like one. Clients have told us that they kept calling, and the insurance company put off sending an adjuster to look at the damage, or the adjuster came and they didn’t hear anything else for weeks or months. If the insurance company can’t be bothered to create an estimate in a timely manner, your public adjuster can and will do it for them.
• The claims process is taking time you don’t have. Many policyholders are busy with work, family, or other responsibilities, and sometimes the claims process becomes too demanding. In an effort to avoid dealing with claims, some insurance companies will ask for more documentation than you might think necessary. Did you submit those pictures through the company’s online portal as directed in the instructions? Great, now you need to email them to the adjuster for some reason. Maybe the damage looked obvious to you, but the adjuster doesn’t see it and wants more pictures. Don’t forget to send another photocopy of your ID and insurance policy! These requests can be exhausting and some people may even give up, but you won’t have to if you hire a public adjuster who can take charge of the claims process for you.
• Your insurance policy reads like an instruction manual for furniture assembly. In other words, it’s confusing and you simply can’t understand it. Insurance policies are often intentionally obtuse because if the policyholder doesn’t understand the policy, it’s easier for the insurance company to justify denying the claim. The best way to protect yourself in these situations is to consult a public adjuster. These professionals are trained to understand and correctly interpret insurance policies, and they’re prepared to review yours and answer your questions. The public adjuster can also negotiate with the insurance carrier because they know exactly what the policy says.
• The insurance company makes you an offer surprisingly quickly or makes an offer that seems too low (or both). It’s not unusual for insurance companies to undervalue claims. Sometimes when you receive a very fast offer, it’s because the insurance company adjuster realizes you have a large amount of damage, so they make you an offer for less than your claim is worth and hope you’ll be satisfied. Even if your offer isn’t particularly swift, it may still seem way too low considering your damages. In either case, a public adjuster can give you a much-needed second opinion. If they agree that you deserve a larger amount of compensation, they will submit a well-documented new claim and work to increase your settlement.

What Questions Should You Ask a Cocoa Public Claims Adjuster?

While engaging the services of a public adjuster is important, you should take your time and be sure you’ve found the right adjuster for your needs. Here are some essential questions to ask any public adjuster before signing a contract:

Are You Currently Licensed and Insured in the State of Florida?

You can verify a public adjuster’s licensing status through the Florida Department of Financial Services website.

Do You Live Here in Florida?

The fact that the adjuster lives elsewhere shouldn’t necessarily be a deal breaker, but if they aren’t local, you should inquire about how many cases similar to yours they’ve handled in the state. Ideally, you want to hire someone well-acquainted with state laws affecting your claim and other local issues.

How Long Have You Been an Adjuster and How Much Experience Do You Have With This Type of Claim?

Training and experience are very important when selecting a public adjuster. We recommend looking for an adjuster who has several years of experience, ample references, and considerable training. They should be able to talk at length about their education and experience and give examples of similar cases they’ve worked on recently.

Once you’ve learned about the adjuster’s professional background, do an online search to verify this information. A truly experienced adjuster who has spent significant time working locally should have a substantial number of local reviews on consumer sites. Be sure to read through at least some reviews to determine if they sound authentic and give specific examples. Additionally, it’s a good idea to call the adjuster’s references and consult the Better Business Bureau to check out their rating.

What Kind of Fees Do You Charge?

With this question, we recommend taking time to think about the answer before making a decision. Some people want to choose the least expensive public adjuster, and we do understand the need to save money. However, a more experienced adjuster often charges a little more than someone new to the industry, and their experience could help you secure a more consequential settlement.

You should also know that Florida limits public adjuster fees to 20 percent of the recovery – and this only applies to recoveries made after you sign a contract with the adjuster. If the insurance carrier already paid you, but the adjuster files another claim for the same incident and secures an additional check from the insurer, they can only charge fees on the amount they recovered, not the earlier payout.

There is one exception to the 20 percent rule: If your claim involves damage from a national disaster severe enough that the governor declared a state of emergency, then public adjuster fees are limited to 10 percent on claims made regarding this disaster.

How Long Do You Think the Claims Process Will Take?

There are many possible answers depending on a variety of factors. No public adjuster can say exactly how long any given claim will take to complete, but an experienced adjuster should be able to give you a ballpark idea, such as “2-3 months,” etc.

In most situations, claims with more damage or more expensive damage take longer than simpler claims. The adjuster will spend more time compiling evidence and writing up a claim if you have multiple instances of damage on your property as opposed to one or two. Additionally, the insurance company representative will spend more time carefully scrutinizing your claim and the included documentation if the claim amount is a higher number.

It’s not unusual for insurance reps to try to negotiate down to a lower amount or offer less compensation than you asked for. Your public adjuster will remind the rep of the extent of your damage and explain why certain repairs or replacements are necessary, handling the negotiation process so you don’t have to. This phase may also take a few extra weeks, but it usually results in a larger settlement than you would receive handling the claim on your own. While claims made with the help of a Brevard County public adjuster sometimes take slightly longer to complete, they also tend to be more lucrative, so it is often worth the wait.

Contact Pinnacle Claim Services for Your Cocoa Insurance Claim Review

Pinnacle Claim Services offers free claim evaluations, and we only charge you a fee once we’ve successfully recovered your claim. Our public adjusters are highly trained and experienced in multiple kinds of property damage claims, including fires, floods, hurricane or weather damage, mold, theft, and vandalism. They are fully licensed and insured, and always ready to provide you with references and reviews from our many satisfied clients. We hope you’ll contact us for a free evaluation and learn more about how we can assist with your property damage claim.