Do you need help with a flood or fire insurance claim? When you make a claim with your insurance company, they assign your claim to an insurance adjuster. This is a professional who will evaluate the damages to your home and its contents; as well as reviewing documents, quotes, and lists such as your Schedule of Loss (a complete list of lost personal property). This professional works on the insurance company’s behalf.
If you’d like a professional to work on your behalf, you can hire a public insurance adjuster or a home insurance lawyer. Both sides will prefer to avoid formal dispute resolution, and the insurance company may be more willing to negotiate with a legal professional (over a public adjuster) because of their legal experience.
When Should You Hire a Public Insurance Adjuster?
Not all claims will be overly difficult to manage, and you might be able to negotiate the resolution on your own. If your home has only been mildly damaged, is still habitable, or your claim is not much larger than your deductible, you can probably handle the negotiations yourself.
In the event of a major fire or flood, a natural disaster, mass evacuation, or displacement from your home, your claim can have significant financial implications across multiple factors, including the damage to the structure itself, damage to personal property, and loss of use expenses. That’s when a public insurance adjuster or home insurance lawyer can help you presentyour claim and negotiate a resolution.
Presenting& Negotiating Your Insurance Claim
A public insurance adjuster or home insurance lawyer can walk you through the claim process step by step. They can help you review your Schedule of Loss, determine which expenses are eligible for Loss of Use coverage, and help you understand your policy.
Most importantly, they can negotiate with the insurer’s adjuster so that you don’t have to. After a devastating loss such as a fire or a flood that forces you out of your home, many families don’t have the energy to argue with an adjuster and may accept an unfair offer simply to stop the back and forth and allow them to start rebuilding their lives.
Dispute Resolution
As far as disputes go, a public insurance adjuster may not be enough. A disagreement can go to the dispute resolution process, where a decision will be made in binding arbitration. Ideally, the professional you hire to help will avoid dispute resolution and focus on getting a fair claim without getting into a formalized dispute. However, disputes can be one area where a law firm rather than a public adjuster may bring more expertise.
A home insurance lawyer can do everything that a public adjuster can do for you, negotiating with the insurance company and helping you complete your claim. Home insurance lawyers are not especially common, but there are some out there. Firms might even base their fees on how much more money you receive after their help, as compared to the insurance company’s initial offer. You can contact Virani Law today for more information about how the process works.
The insurance claim process can feel impersonal, daunting, and possibly even inappropriate when you are dealing with the emotional aftermath of a fire or a flood. A public insurance adjuster or law firm can help you navigate the process while you focus on rebuilding your life.