Brownsville Public Adjuster
With hurricanes, tropical storms, coastal flooding, high winds, and other natural catastrophes regularly battering Brownsville and south Texas, the need for a
Brownsville public adjuster may arise. If your Brownsville home or business property has been severely damaged due to a major catastrophe, retaining a public insurance adjuster could be in your best interest.
Retain a Public Insurance Adjuster and Recover Your Losses
Public insurance adjusters serve a similar purpose as insurance company insurance adjusters in that they estimate insurance losses and document the damage. However, there’s an important difference between these two insurance professions: public insurance adjusters work for policyholders while insurance company adjusters work for insurance companies.
By retaining a Brownsville public adjuster, you are ensuring that all of the damage you have suffered gets discovered, documented, and presented to the insurance company for compensation. With your own adjuster, you will be at the mercy of your insurance company’s adjuster who may or may not be as thorough as you’d like. Keep in mind that while the insurance company adjuster will come out and inspect the damage, his job isn’t necessarily to detail every single covered loss for which you are entitled. In fact, that is actually YOUR responsibility. If you’re already overwhelmed by the scope of the damage, consider retaining a public adjuster and get the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you have a true professional working on your behalf.
What to Expect when Hiring a Brownsville Public Adjuster
It’s not unusual for Texas homeowners to balk at the idea of hiring their own insurance adjuster. After all, it seems excessive since your insurance company is providing one for free. However, simply accepting the insurance company’s settlement offer without carefully assessing your losses could be a huge financial mistake. Hire a public adjuster and make sure that all of your losses have been accounted for – and compensated for.
Public adjusters can maximize your payout by:
- Discovering all possible insurance losses
- Documenting all insurance losses
- Accurately estimating repairs and replacements using “real world” estimates that reflect the cost of rebuilding in Brownsville after a major storm
- Negotiating with your insurance company
- Filing all necessary insurance forms
- Reviewing your insurance policy to make sure that nothing is overlooked
Public Adjusters Often Pay for Themselves
Another concern that holds many Texas policyholders back from retaining a public adjuster involves paying the adjuster. This fear subsides once they learn the following key facts about how public insurance adjusters are paid:
- The state of Texas regulates how public adjusters are paid
- Public adjusters are paid a small percentage (no more than 10 percent per Texas law) of the total settlement
- Public adjusters are paid out of the settlement (no upfront or out-of-pocket fees)
- If the public adjuster does not successfully negotiate a settlement, the adjuster does not get paid
These facts coupled with the very real possibility of a much higher settlement offer than you can get on your own often lead to an interesting phenomenon: Public adjusters often pay for themselves. For example, if a public adjuster is able to increase your settlement offer 30 percent, even after paying the adjuster a full 10 percent, your final compensation check would 20 percent higher than before. While results vary, this example shows that the risk of hiring a public adjuster is low (after all, you don’t pay unless a settlement results), the potential rewards are high.