Why go with a Public Adjuster
James, previous readers might remember him as the client with the unfortunate experience with his insurance company, has another shining example of why to always go with a public adjuster.
Before James contacted me, his insurance company came out to estimate the damages to his roof. Before I tell you what they offered him, let me tell you the damages. The entire back half of the roof was leaking, intensely. The upstairs room, where James’ wife had an expense quilting machine, was leaking. The master bedroom, which was immediately beneath this quilting room, was also leaking right above their $3,000 Tempur-Pedic mattress and the carpet. The master bedroom closet had leaked, dripping water on their clothes. Outside, they have a screened-in pool. The screen was pulling apart from the frame, allowing insects, leaves, and other such nastiness into their patio. As you can imagine, James and his family were not happy.
For all this damage, his insurance company offered them about $30,000 to fix the roof. After this paltry number and their unpleasant experience with their insurance adjuster (which readers can find in a previous post), James decided to contact me.
Now, when I walked through the house, I was astonished at the amount of damage done. There was more to fix than $30,000 could cover; the exterior of the roof alone would need that much, and woe be the man who can’t replace the Tempur-Pedic.
When I wrote their estimate, including all the damage done to items throughout the house, I totaled about $84,386. You can see the discrepancy here. So did James, and so did the insurance company. Ultimately, we were able to negotiate them to $60,000 – enough to fix the roof, the carpet, the screen, and replace the coveted mattress.
The point here is the importance of public adjusters. It cannot be overstated that insurance companies only care for their bottom dollar. It looks much better on them to get people like James only $30,000 when his damages totaled much more than that. Public adjusters, however, want to see their clients back into their state of wholeness that existed before the damages. I got James and his family $30,000 more than the insurance company would have ever given them, and now they can sleep soundly knowing their roof won’t leak (and that their mattress isn’t growing mold).
When deciding whether or not to get a public adjuster, always go with yes. We have your best interests at heart, not our bottom dollar.
Stay safe, friends.