The Licensed Public Adjuster Explained
About 30 retirees and guests were given a close-up look at just what a licensed public adjuster is and what he can do for anyone who has sustained property damage to their home or business. At the end of the Jan. 10 program, almost all in attendance were impressed with what they learned and asking: “Why didn’t we know about these folks before?”
The folks they were referring to were Eric Stoerger and Patrick Donnelly from National
Fire Adjusters’ Rochester office. Stoerger is the office manager and Donnelly, a local native, is a licensed public adjuster. Their company, headquartered in Buffalo, offers competent and complete assistance to the public in the area of preparing and filing damage claims to insurance companies.
To set the tone, retirees were told that in house sales, both the buyer and the seller have the right to their respective realtors who work together for the best mutual resolution of a realty transaction. In the case of insurance claims, the insurance company has its own adjuster – their own employee and the insured has a right to their own adjuster. That’s where the licensed public adjuster comes in.
In the aftermath of a property damage incident – be it fire, storm, water damage or other accident – a licensed public adjuster examines the insured’s policy to ascertain the extent of the coverage it provides, then surveys the damage and calculates the full compensation due to the insured based on the provisions of the policy. Throughout the process, the company adjuster works for the company and the licensed public adjuster works for the policy holder.
Both Stoerger and Donnelly stressed that any insurance policy is only as good as it is written and it falls to the property owner to be aware of the policy, what it covers and to what extent. Ideally, a property insurance policy should provide full replacement value and include specific clauses to cover such things as “Law and Ordinance” coverage for older homes and sump pump failure protection for homes with sump pumps in finished basements.
Donnelly explained the Law and Ordinance coverage as it applies to a badly damaged older home which, for example, had 100-amp electrical service. In restoring it, the home owner may be told that the electrical service in the whole house must be brought up to the 200-amp code. Without that protection in the policy, the cost of that upgrade must be paid for by the homeowner or the homeowner can use the insurance money to pay for it, which will cut into the amount available for rebuilding.
He added that with so may homes today having finished basements, insurance companies having to respond to claims for damages suffered from the overflow of a sump pump, now write policies that provide coverage only if the policy carries an endorsement for this specific type of loss. Generally, these are limited to $2,500 to $5,000.
The speakers also discussed other aspects of property damage claims such as listing and verifying damaged contents, alternate housing should the home become uninhabitable during reconstruction, lost production or income for businesses whether from the home or a business location.
As with important medical decisions, most insurance claimants should get a “second opinion” in the aftermath of any household or property damage. Licensed public adjusters do not charge for the initial visit, they will examine the policy, survey the damage, determine what is provided by the policy and advise the insured, after which the insured can decide to hire the public adjuster or not. Once hired, the public adjuster handles all the work of preparing and filing the claim and working with the insurance company’s adjuster to insure the insured gets the full benefit as provided by the policy. Fees for licensed public adjusters are limited by the State to 12.5% of the final settlement.
NFA is a three-generation family-owned company that has been serving people in Western New York since 1922 and has 80 people in its offices in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. Besides licensed adjusters, the staff includes appraisers, CPAs, attorneys and estimators. A member of the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA), the company received the 2005 Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics.
Everyone attending the session was given a folio outlining the company, its history and services. The packet also included an impressive listing of the company’s clients, many of which are in the Elmira-Corning and Southern Tier area.
A hearty Q&A session followed their presentation and kept the two busy for almost another half hour after the program ended at 11 a.m.
|
