Deerfield Beach Weather Damage Claims Adjuster

Flash floods, hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hail—Florida has no shortage of adverse weather situations that can damage your home, business, or other property. Sometimes, the damage is apparent immediately, but in other cases, you may notice a problem a few days, weeks, or even months later.

Once you seek help from your insurance company, you may get a rude awakening—the insurance adjuster could reject your claim, or they might offer you less than it’s worth. Fortunately, you do have options to pursue the total compensation you deserve.

Why Do You Need a Deerfield Beach Storm Damage Claims Adjuster?

If you rely on the insurance company’s adjuster to evaluate your claim, you’re placing trust in someone whose job is to save the insurance company money. They will examine your claim and attached photos, looking for reasons to reject the claim.

If they don’t find any, they will move on to determining the most cost-efficient way to achieve repairs. The problem with this second scenario is that they may offer to pay for a less effective repair—for example, replacing a few shingles when the whole roof needs to be replaced.

A storm damage claims adjuster is a public adjuster—they don’t work for the insurance company but for the individual policyholder.

You may be wondering why you need your own adjuster if the insurance company assigns you one, but it’s essential to understand that the insurance company’s employees are all in the business of reducing costs…for the insurance company. That means they look for reasons to either deny claims or undervalue them.

A public adjuster works for you, and their job is to help you build a strong claim and recoup all your damages.

Why Do People Hire a Weather Damage Claims Adjuster?

There are many different situations where policyholders seek the help of a public adjuster for a weather damage claim. Here are some examples:

• They filed a claim, and it was denied. Often, the policyholder feels they did everything right, attaching pictures and following instructions, but the insurance adjuster denied the claim anyway. There may be a number of reasons why this happens—probably the most common situation is that the adjuster believes the policy doesn’t cover the damage. One of the benefits of engaging a public adjuster is that we will review the details of your policy and help you develop a strategy for demonstrating that the damage is covered.
• They filed a claim, and it was accepted, but the insurance company won’t pay for all the damage. This is what we call undervaluing a claim. The insurance adjuster realizes there is sufficient evidence that the damage falls under a covered situation, so they don’t dispute that point. Instead, they find the cheapest way to fix the damage and offer to pay for that. For example, they might base their offer on repairing a damaged appliance or replacing one component when the whole electrical system is messed up, and the machine will continue to have problems. What you might need in this situation is a full replacement of the appliance, but the insurance company only offers to pay for the inexpensive repair. In these cases, a weather damage claims adjuster can help you document the severity of the damage and the reasons that a full replacement or more extensive repair is essential.
• They filed a claim, and the claims adjuster hasn’t gotten around to examining the damage or responding to the claim. Sometimes, the adjuster keeps promising they’ll come by to look at the damage or they’ll process the claim soon, but weeks go by, and the policyholder is still waiting for help. A local weather damage claims adjuster will promptly inspect and estimate the damage for you, then review your claim and help you submit or resubmit it. If the insurance company continues to ignore you, your public adjuster will remind them of their obligations per the policy. If necessary, we’ll go over their heads and contact someone else at the insurance carrier until we get your claim processed. 

These are only some of the more common reasons people consult a public adjuster. If you’re having difficulty getting your claim processed or approved for any reason, we recommend contacting a weather damage claims adjuster for a free inspection and policy review.

What Kind of Weather Damage Can a Public Adjuster Inpsect?

Our public adjusters are experienced in handling a wide variety of weather damage claims, including:

• Wind damage, such as ripped-off shutters, items striking the outside of the building, etc.
• Broken windows.
• Clogged pipes resulting from floods, storm surges, etc.
• Leaking roofs which may be caused by hail, wind, or hurricane damage.
• Damaged appliances often caused by floods or storm-related water damage.
• Structural damage, such as water-damaged carpets, walls, or furniture.

Our local storm damage claims adjusters are deeply knowledgeable about frequent weather issues in Florida, including hurricanes, floods, storms, tornadoes, wind, hail, and thunderstorms. We’ll carefully evaluate the damage you point out to us, but we’ll also look at the rest of the home or property to ensure nothing is missed.

Not every sign of storm damage is immediately obvious, especially to the average person. Our education and skills allow us to identify more serious damage that you or the insurance company adjuster might miss.

What About the Water Mitigation Company or Another Representative Hired by the Insurance Company?

Companies or representatives that have been hired by the insurance company are likely to be in favor of helping the insurance company save money. If they recommend less expensive options, they know the insurance company will pay for it, and they will have an almost guaranteed job fixing your damage.

On the other hand, if they recommend more expensive options that you genuinely need, the insurance company may not pay for it, and if you can’t afford it, you might end up choosing not to do any repairs. Or, you could get another estimate from a different company.

Either way, the water mitigation outfit hired by the insurer loses business.

Your storm damage claims adjuster can review the estimate from a water mitigation company and let you know if additional repairs might be necessary.

How Long Does the Insurance Claims Process Take?

It’s hard to give you an answer when the process is highly variable. In general, the more damage you have, the longer it will take for the insurance company to evaluate your claim.

However, there are other factors you may not be aware of or able to predict. Sometimes, the insurance adjuster is busy with other claims, and that could affect how long it takes—this is especially true after a disaster like a hurricane that potentially affects thousands of people in your area.

While you can’t change the fact that the insurance company has a higher-than-normal volume of claims to process, you can move things along by hiring a weather damage claims adjuster to do the initial inspection and policy review. This will save the insurance company rep time when reviewing your claim and may reduce the risk of your first claim being denied.

Your public adjuster can also help streamline the process by negotiating with the insurance company and following up with them if they’re taking an unusually long time.

How Much Should Hurricane Insurance Cost in Deerfield Beach?

When considering property insurance in Florida, a hurricane is probably one of the first potential damage situations that comes to mind. Under Florida law, homeowners’ insurance, which averages about $2,385 a year, has to cover wind damage from hurricanes but not necessarily flood or water damage.

You’ll have to buy flood insurance separately, and costs vary depending on where you live. If your home insurance carrier doesn’t sell flood insurance, FEMA’s website has directions on how to buy flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

It’s very important to note that most carriers don’t sell flood insurance for several days before an expected hurricane, so we recommend that you don’t wait for a hurricane warning to protect your home or business.

While going over your home or business insurance policy, it’s a good idea to understand what other weather situations are or aren’t covered, such as lightning or hail damage.

How Can You Get Help From a Weather Damage Claims Adjuster?

If you need help filing a claim, getting an inspection, understanding your insurance policy, fighting a claim denial, or dealing with an undervalued claim, please contact Pinnacle Claim Services at 954-466-2954 for a free inspection and policy review. Our experienced local adjusters are acquainted with the latest insurance policy trends and laws and can assist you with interpreting your policy.

They also know how to look for the many different signs of weather damage in each situation and will carefully photograph and explain each incidence of damage. Additionally, they can spare you the stress and worry of negotiating with the insurance company adjuster or fighting for a fair settlement.

There is no obligation, and if you decide to continue with our help, you won’t owe us anything until the insurance policy pays your claim.