Thursday, April 3, 2008

Tools of The Insurrance Company Adjuster

The next time your home or business is damaged by catastrophe give this your consideration: watch what the insurance company adjuster brings with them to the scene. I’ll bet you will be able to put the tools into a couple of buckets, camera and tape measure. The camera is used to document the open and obvious damage and the tape measure is used to quantify the areas damaged. Ok, I forgot something, a flashlight. They need to be able to see what they are looking at.

My question to you is this: What happens if your damage is not open and obvious? Take a look at the photo below. This is a photo of a wall taken to a hurricane damaged house. What’s wrong with the wall?





You can’t tell. The damage is not open and obvious. A camera and tape measure is not going to help you recover money from the insurance company. You can have all the opinions you want as to whether the wall is damaged, but unless you can prove it, you’re SOL. “Sorry about that the adjuster says. I just don’t see what your talking about.” Remember they can always tell you what isn’t covered by the policy and damage which can not be proven is not covered.

Having the right tool on the other hand can mean the difference between a recovery and no recovery. Here is that very same photograph where I am taking a moisture reading. The moisture meter is pegged. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the wall is wet. The result? The insurance company paid for the water damaged wall.







There is no substitute for having the right tool for the right job. If the insurance company adjuster doesn't have the right tools at their disposal what makes you think they are equipped to adjust your loss?

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