Adjusting Big Losses - Home Fires and Public Insurance Adjusters - Getting the Most From Your Policy

There is a lot of information on the internet about how to buy the cheapest or best homeowners insurance. Hopefully for most people that will be all they ever need to do. They will purchase a policy, make the premium payments and never have a serious loss and need to file a claim.

Unfortunately, a small percentage of people will have a serious loss that is covered by their insurance policy. In many cases this will be a fire.r

In the best case no one is injured or killed. However, dealing with the loss of possessions and the potential loss of your home can be stressful and costly.

Immediately after the fire, the insurer will send out an adjuster that will evaluate your loss and may even try to manage the recovery and rebuilding efforts. As honest and caring as these company or contract adjusters might be, they have a long term relationship with the insurance companies that hire them. Long after they have settled your claim they will still be adjusting losses for the company.

What most homeowners don't know, and your insurance company is not likely to tell you, is that you don't need to use the adjuster supplied by the company. There is a type of insurance adjust known as a public adjuster that does not work for the insurers, they work for the policy holders. In fact, public adjusters don't and can't wok for the insurance companies.

A qualified and experienced public adjuster will review your policy and the details of the loss. They can prepare a claim that is properly constructed to maximize the benefits of the policy you have paid for. Since they have no long term relationship with the insurance company, they have no incentive to minimize your loss or coverage.

Large businesses often use the services of public adjusters when they have fires, covered floods or other catastrophic losses. Homeowners can also take advantage of these services.

So, if you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of suffering a large loss due to fire, storm or other covered peril, consider contacting a public insurance adjuster. Letting the same company that is going to write the check decide how big the check should be, does not make any sense. No matter how long you think about it.

For more information about public insurance adjusters you can go to the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA) webpage at http://www.napia.com