Being required to file an insurance claim can be stressful. Navigating the billing process can increase that stress. Insurers have developed strict claims practices that help to make policyholders all the way after a loss, but these processes can be opaque and confusing for people with no industry knowledge. Some policyholders choose to work with independent coordinators who work on their behalf to ensure that their claims are justly valued and lead to fair payments. However, hiring a claim adjuster may not be the right choice for everyone.
What is a claim adjuster?
The insurance adjuster investigates your home and car insurance claims and determines whether the company needs to pay the loss. Adjusters are usually employed by insurance providers. Once you file a claim, an adjuster is assigned to the claim, and the insurance company checks exactly how much the insurance company should pay based on the coverage type.
Claims adjusters can be divided into three categories:
- Staff adjuster: These adjusters are employees of a particular insurance company.
- Independent coordinator: These adjusters are often hired by insurance companies when the volume of claims is high, like after a devastating storm.
- Public Adjuster: These adjusters are not employed by insurance companies and are usually involved in household claims on behalf of the policyholder.
The insurance company will try to settle all claims in a fair way, but you may not agree to the settlement you receive, or the claim may be complicated enough to justify external assistance. These may be when public claim adjusters may be useful.
Should I hire a public billing adjuster?
Most motor insurance claims are resolved by a staff coordinator who is the claims officer employed by your insurance company. For example, if a large inflow of claims occurs at once after a hurricane, your claim could be handled by an independent coordinator who is still working on behalf of the insurer but not an employee.
If your claim is particularly large or complicated, if you disagree with the settlement reached by the insurance adjuster, or if you need assistance in managing the claims process, your public claims adjuster may be able to assist you. While the general adjuster usually focuses on home insurance claims, there may be an option to work with motor vehicle claims.
The majority of the claims are well handled by staff and independent coordinators. If you feel you need to hire a public adjuster, you may want to contact your state’s Department of Insurance for questions or recommendations before pursuing a public adjuster.
The advantages of hiring a public bill adjuster
The main advantage of hiring an adjuster to tackle your insurance claim is that you can pass on a lot of work to a licensed professional. This has certain benefits, such as:
- Potentially big payments: Because public adjusters work for you, not insurance companies, so they work with your biggest interest in mind and may help you maximize your qualifying payments.
- Save time and error: If you don’t know what you’re doing while filing an insurance claim, the public coordinator can take some of the work from your hands and avoid any errors you may make due to inexperience.
- Continuous relationships: If you have worked with public adjusters in the past, you may be able to call them in the event of subsequent losses, minimizing the stress of filing a claim.
Cons of hiring a public claims adjuster
Working with a public claims adjuster may have advantages, but it is worth considering the downsides.
- Many public adjusters are not working on car insurance claims: Most public insurance adjusters focus on home insurance claims, with some people not taking on clients with auto insurance claims.
- Public adjusters will be charged a fee. Typically, the adjuster will charge a percentage of bill payments in exchange for service, and that amount can be significant.
- You give up control: By approving the public adjuster to process the claim on your behalf, you can give up a lot of control over the outcome of the claim, especially if the adjuster does not contact you in close contact with you.
How much does a public insurance adjuster cost?
If you decide to hire a public adjuster, you will need to pay. There is no fixed fee for public insurance adjusters. Prices vary by expert. You may pay a flat fee to the public billing adjuster. Alternatively, the fee may be part of the final bill settlement. The percentage of payments to the public adjuster may vary, but in many cases it is over 10%.
How to select a public adjuster
The public adjuster works for you, so it’s up to you to choose who you want to work with. Your insurance company is likely to have recommendations for public adjusters. When hiring a public adjuster, we recommend that you consider the following steps:
Please ask for recommendations
Friends, family members, colleagues and acquaintances may vote for recommendations and advice if they have previously used the public adjuster. If you’ve never used a public adjuster for any of them, you can ask if you know who has one.
Please contact Napian
The National Public Insurance Association (NAPIA) is an organization that has a database of professional claims adjusters with at least two years of experience. You can also sort the list of reputable adjusters and filter the list by different experience levels. The organization also offers industry-received certifications for public coordinators.
Please contact your state insurance office
Some states regulate or license public insurance adjusters. If your state does so, you may be able to find information about reputable public coordinators through the state’s department of insurance.
Candidate candidate
Once you’ve narrowed down a few names, it’s best to go through the screening process. You can contact their references and past clients and ask if the person is timely, effective and reliable. We also recommend that you check your credentials by calling the accreditation body.
Alternatives to hire a public billing adjuster
Policyholders usually hire their own claims adjusters when the proposed settlement appears to be unfair to them, or when their claims are very complicated. However, there may be other ways to resolve the issue without getting the public adjuster.
Work with your insurance agent
If you are not satisfied with the claim adjustments offered by your insurance company, you may consider talking to an agent or customer service representative. Your agent may be able to talk to the billing team and find a way to resolve your problem. You can also request to speak to the adjuster manager or evaluate the case with another staff adjuster.
Please appeal to the insurance company
If your issue is not resolved in cooperation with your carrier, you can appeal the claim decision. This process may vary from company to company, but it may help you resolve your claim issue without seeking external help.
Please talk to the Ombudsman
If your state’s health department has an ombudsman or mediator on staff, they may be useful to you. The role of the Insurance Ombudsman is to investigate complaints about claims, coverage, payments and other insurance aspects.
Contact your state insurance regulator
If everything else fails, you can file a complaint with the state Department of Insurance. Please note that the process can be lengthy and that if insurance laws are not broken, the issue may not be resolved satisfactorily.
