Richard was in his family room recovering from knee replacement surgery watching the news, dozing and half asleep when he heard glass breaking and furniture falling in his living room. A deer had slipped through the back door and into the living room, causing considerable damage to antiques, furniture, and other household items.

The deer had cut itself going through the screen door, but the blood was only the beginning of Richard’s problems. The deer panicked as he frantically searched for a way out and started crashing into things. He knocked over an antique grandfather clock, smashed a cut glass end table, damaged an antique end table with wood inlays, and smashed two antique Chinese porcelain lamps.

Blood was put on a white sofa, blood on an oriental rug, blood on the floor, blood on the walls, blood everywhere.

Richard’s house had hardwood floors. You can imagine the scratches and cracks in the hooves that resulted when the startled deer tried to secure its footing in its attempt to escape.

Richard managed to pin the deer to the ground and was holding it in place when his wife walked through the front door, saw him on the ground holding the deer and asked what the hell he was doing lying on the ground with a deer in the middle of it. from her living room. They finally got the deer out of the house.

After the deer left, Richard inspected the damage. Blood was everywhere. On the floor, walls, carpets, upholstered furniture, and pretty much everywhere. Everything the deer touched was apparently broken or damaged, including the antiques, collectibles, and most other household items located in that room. Richard asked his wife to take her digital camera and start taking pictures of everything, starting from the back door.

The first thing Richard did was call his insurance agent, who arranged for the company’s claims adjuster to visit his home and assess the damage. The adjuster scheduled a visit two days later, took some measurements, wrote some notes, and informed Richard that the Insurance Company would be in touch again soon. Richard gave him copies of the photos, showing all the items and the room in the condition just after the deer had been removed from the house. Both the adjuster and Richard felt that the total cost to repair the antiques and clean everything would be approximately $5,000.00. The adjuster was very happy with this total figure. Richard didn’t know any better at the time.

The next day a gentleman from an antique restoration company came and inspected the broken and damaged antiques and told Richard that yes, all the furniture and antiques could be fixed. But he would have to take them back to his workshop so his craftsman could estimate the costs of repairing the damaged furniture, clock, china, and other items before submitting his estimate. Richard agreed.

Dan from Antiques Restoration continued the conversation and asked Richard if “your adjuster“I had gone out to inspect the damage. Richard said yes, the”Insurance adjuster” I had left the day before and was waiting for the estimate to repair the furniture. Dan said: “No, not the Insurance Company Adjuster, YOUR Adjuster“. Since he never filed an insurance claim, Richard had never heard of a “audience adjusterDan, who had just started working as a Public Adjuster, proceeded to explain that Public Adjusters work for the owner, not the insurance company.

Dan explained that there were three types of insurance adjusters:
• Insurance Company Adjusters
• Independent adjusters
• Audience Adjusters

Furthermore, he explained that while the Insurance company and independent adjusters were employed by, and representing the interests of, the Insurance Company, a audience adjuster it was someone who represented the interests of the homeowner when negotiating a claim with their insurance company.

The friend continued: “You would not go to court without the support of a lawyer. I would not face the IRS without the support of an Accountant or CPA. Why would you even consider dealing with your insurance company and their salaried claims adjusters and the team of other paid insurance professionals whose primary goal is to mitigate and minimize the size of your claim payment, by yourself and by yourself? Especially in an area as complicated and confusing as homeowners insurance.“.

This made sense to Richard, so he agreed to have a Public Adjuster represent him. The adjuster explained the entire claims process. In exchange for its fee the Public Adjustment Society:
• Reviewed as assessed all damage.
• Take measurements and photographs.
• Calculated the actual damage to Richard’s property and how much was needed to restore his property to “before the accident” condition.
• I met face to face with the Insurance Company Adjuster on multiple occasions.
• Handled all the paperwork.
• Handled all negotiations with the Insurance Company.

Because the Public Adjuster understood the Insurance, understood what the policy did and did not cover, understood the Claims process, and knew what and what not to tell the Insurance Company…negotiated a total claim payment of approximately $22,000 from the insurer. So even after the Public Adjuster deducted the fee from him, Richard ended up with almost 3 times what the Insurance Company originally offered. And basically all Richard had to do was deposit his check. The Public Adjuster did the rest of the work.

The moral of the story is this: Before accepting an offer to settle claims from your insurance company, you should speak with at least one Public Adjuster to see if using a Public Adjusting Company is in your best interest.

P.S.: As a result of this true life story, Richard decided to pursue a new career as a Public Adjuster and after 14 months in the business, he rose to the position of regional administrator of the largest Public Adjustment Company in the country.