Two Myths About Hiring An Insurance Adjuster To Help Settle A Claim

It doesn't matter what type of incident you have been involved in, to settle your claim with your insurance provider, you generally have to work with a professional claims adjuster. For many people, this idea invokes a level of fear as there is often the idea that the adjuster isn't on your side, but instead the side of the insurance company. Most of these fears surface due to misconceptions. Make sure you know fact from fiction.

The Smaller The Claim, The Better

By far, the greatest myth associated with insurance claims adjusters is that the smaller they are able to settle a claim for, the more money in their pocket in the form of hefty commissions. For example, if they can settle your house fire damages for a considerably lower amount than the value of your policy, the insurance company will give them a bonus.

The reality is that claims adjusters are paid a fee based on their service, not based on the value of the claim. For an in-house adjuster this often looks like a yearly or hourly wage and for an independent adjuster, it's typically a contract fee. Either way, the amount your claim is settled for has nothing to do with how much money the claims adjuster stands to earn.

They Work To Trick You

There is also this idea that insurance adjusters work to trick you. That they collect information to make you say the wrong thing and cancel out your ability to file a successful claim. When it comes to an adjuster you hire, the most important thing to remember is that they are working on your behalf, not against you. Any information collected is used to support your case, not tear it down.

If it seems like an adjuster is asking an uncomfortable question, this is only being done to understand your claim. Take a house fire, for example. If the adjuster asks you if you may have accidentally left a candle burning, this is not being down in an accusatory tone, but instead to examine a cause for the fire. In the event this was the cause for the fire, hiding this information from the insurance company could completely void your claim once this information surfaces so it's better to be open and honest from the start.

Don't let a myth about a professional claims adjuster block you from hiring an adjuster to help you settle your case fairly.


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