Fires can happen to anyone and at any time, with or without warning, and when it does happen it is more important to make sure that everyone is safe before trying to save the property. More often than not, fires can ravage a home, a business and any other property, as fires can go on burning until it ran out of oxygen or all that could be burned had already been burned. Most of which actually is the latter, thus, those who have had the misfortune of having their properties burned must navigate through all the issues and problems in order to rebuild their properties. It is a legal requirement to take out a fire insurance policy on any property that you plan to purchase, since fires are the most common accidents that could happen to destroy your property. However, making a fire insurance claim is much difficult and complicated than it really is and you need a fire claim adjuster to make sure that you get the most of your insurance claims.
What is a Fire Claim Adjuster?
A fire claim adjuster is a public adjuster that has been licensed by the state to represent insurance policy holders who are filing insurance claims from their insurance providers. The responsibility of the fire claim adjuster is to ensure that the insurance policy holder gets the amount agreed on by their policy and whatever other benefits it may have in respect of their fire insurance claims. A fire claim adjuster is authorized to represent and negotiate with the insurance providers for the insurance policy holder, and by doing so will work for the benefit of the policy holder and not that of the insurance companies. Thus, they attend to meetings, inspections, negotiations, and prepare documents, reports and claims for the policy holders. They also make follow-ups, call insurance companies if they are taking too long to process the claims and ensure that you get paid as soon as possible so that you can also get to rebuild your home or property the soonest.
Why You Need to Hire Your Own Fire Claim Adjuster?
It is a reality that making a fire insurance claim and being compensated with the amount on your insurance policy agreement are two very difficult processes and even if you are willing to do this on your own, the truth is hiring your own fire claim adjuster is more cost-effective in the long run. With your own fire claim adjuster, you will be assured that your best interests are being protected and that the fire claim adjuster will make sure that your rights are protected and that you are represented in all meetings and proceedings. Most of the time also, insurance companies will not deal directly with the policy holder, they will have to assign a fire claim adjuster to be your representative, and this is not what you want or need at this time. Insurance companies will choose a fire claim adjuster and introduce him or her to you and will basically function in the same way as regular public adjusters do, however, these fire claim adjusters will not have your best interests at heart, instead they are working for the insurance providers and their only job is to see to it that you get paid with the minimum amount the insurance company wants to give you. Thus, it is better to hire your own fire claim adjuster who will work for your interests even if you had to pay them yourself, rather than accepting the offer of the insurance companies.
How Do You Find A Fire Claim Adjuster?
Insurance is a thriving business and there is good money to be made in it, thus, there are also a lot of establishments who do provide fire claim adjuster services, there are of course the expensive ones with stellar track records and the cheaper ones with less experience. Who to hire will depend ultimately on you own preferences and whether you want to take a risk on the new players or ensure the success of your claims with the more experienced one. You simply have to weigh it out and find one that will be a good fit for you. Someone you can communicate with, someone you can trust and who is really sincere and committed to working for your interests. You can find a fire claim adjuster in any of the businesses that specialize in this kind of things. But, you need to make sure that that service provider has the track record to prove that they are really good at what they do and they have verified and licensed public adjusters. You also would want someone that really has a physical office or location that you can go to, and schedule an appointment for a consultation, in that way you can actually get to experience how responsive they are to their client’s needs and decide for yourself whether you want to hire them for your fire insurance claim needs.
Another way of figuring out which fire claim adjuster to hire is to ask for referrals from people you may know who have gone through the same experience as you did, and was either able to get the most from their insurance policy or not. Even if these people may not point you to the right fire claim adjuster, they can also tell you which ones to avoid. This is why experience and success rate is important, you would want someone who already have had the experience navigating through the complex process of making fire claims, someone who knows the language, has the right skill set and tools and one who can tell when insurance companies are playing hard or lowballing.
You Now Have A Fire Claim Adjuster, What To Do Next?
After the fire, and you and your family or employees are safe and without any injury, then you can move on to inspecting your property and assessing just how much of it was damaged, from the least to the most damaged and what personal belongings have been lost to the fire. You need to document everything and make an inventory of it. Then hire a fire claims adjuster and give to him or her all the documents and pictures you have gathered and let him or her do the rest. Finally trust in the process and make your fire claim adjuster your best friend.
