THE TAKEAWAYS
- Texas Insurance Code 4105.051 sets forth rules and regulations that mandate that a licensed Public must act in the best interests of insureds at all times
- Case studies have proven that an experienced Public Adjuster at True View Commercial can increase your claim settlement by up to 170% on average
- Insurance company adjusters often lack the skills, experience, and time it takes to accurately assess your property claim
- A Public Adjuster will manage and settle your insurance claim on your behalf; saving you time and frustration, and negotiating the maximum settlement for you
IS A PUBLIC ADJUSTER WORTH IT?
When faced with a severe loss such as a house fire, insureds are often left in shock and are skeptical of most companies trying to offer them a service, especially one they may not have heard of before. When interviewing clients, I often hear them say, “I like the idea of your service, but is a Public Adjuster really worth it?”
The answer is, “Yes”. Case studies conducted by analyzing millions of dollars in real insurance settlements show an average residential claim increase of 170% for clients of True View Commercial. When you hire a Public Adjuster, you will receive the highest settlement possible so you can repair or replace your damaged property and get your life back to normal as quickly as possible.
WHAT EXACTLY IS A PUBLIC ADJUSTER?
Before we jump into the case studies, let’s first explain what a public adjuster is. Public Adjusters are licensed by the state to act as your advocate and claim expert to ensure that you receive every policy benefit available to you when you’re faced with an insurance loss. For a fee,
Public Adjusters work directly for you, not your insurance company and they are regulated by your state’s department of insurance. In Texas, Insurance Code 4105.051 spells out the duties, obligations, and laws that a licensed Public Adjuster must adhere to. Included in these laws are codes pertaining to the fees a Public Adjuster can charge, ethics, conflicts of interest, fiduciary regulations, etc. Failure to abide by these laws by a Public Adjuster can result in license seizure from the State Department of Insurance.
WHY ARE INITIAL INSURANCE SETTLEMENTS SO LOW?
Insureds generally approach True View Commercial after unsuccessfully trying to handle their insurance claim on their own. They usually feel they just don’t have enough money to complete their restoration project. After receiving bids from contractors or talking to friends and family, they are left feeling like they got less than a fair shake. This is not uncommon for losses such as house fires or residential water loss.
There are many reasons why insurance estimates are so low. The most common reasons are a lack of technical skills and a lack of qualified experience required to understand the various complexities of how and why certain materials are damaged as a result of a covered loss. Another reason is that insurance company adjusters are completely inundated with claims. As a previous company adjuster for Nationwide Insurance, I have experienced firsthand the effects of trying to maintain a heavy workload. When adjusters are overloaded with claims, they tend to rush through a claim with little attention to detail. This all has a compounding effect on the final settlement of an insurance claim.
CASE STUDY RESULTS
So, when a customer asks, “Is hiring a Public Adjuster worth it?”, it’s great to have the data that supports a resounding, “yes!”.
Over the last 5 years, True View Commercials has settled millions of dollars in insurance claims ranging from large residential house fires, water damage, or tornados to multi-million dollar commercial fires, warehouse floods, and flat roof hail claims. Data sets were gathered and grouped by our client classification of Residential Claims and Commercial Claims in order to bifurcate data for both client types.
For this study, True View Commercial examined the most common types of losses; Fire, Water, and Wind/Hail. Nearly every claim handled by True View Commercial where the insured hired our Public Adjusters AFTER receiving an offer was used for this study. Note: in some cases, we negotiated over a 2000-3000% increase in claim value. As a result, we removed extreme values and outliers so the data would be representative of an average claim, not just our top success stories.
Initial insurance company offers were gathered, tabulated, and used as a baseline for the settlement from the insurance company. We classified these offers as the “Initial Offer”. After True View Commercial investigated, negotiated, and settled claims. We classified these offers as the “Final Settlement”. The Final Settlements were tabulated and used to calculate the Percent of Increase from the Initial Offer. Extreme values and outliers were removed from the data. The Percent of Increases were then averaged together to determine an overall claim increase across the most common claim types.
After millions of dollars in claims settlements were analyzed over the last five years, the True View Commercial Public Adjusters increased the average claim by 170% after the initial offer from the insurance carrier *. To further break down the numbers, below are the average Percent of Increase by claim type:
- House Fires – 118% Increase
- Water – 163% Increase
- Wind/Hail - 229% Increase
The data in our 5-year case study helps to clearly illustrate to our clients that hiring an experienced and qualified Public Adjuster can add significant value to your insurance claim. If you have questions about your claim settlement offer, contact the office of True View Commercial to set up a no-cost claim consultation. Our team of experts can evaluate your claim and let you know if your claim warrants the services of a Public Adjuster.
*claim settlement values and claim increases may differ from those used in the aforementioned case study
