Insurer Said 'A Few Tiles.' Adjusters Found $10K in Damage.
A homeowner's storm claim was drastically undervalued by their insurer. Independent loss adjusters uncovered ten times the damage.
Your insurance company is not your friend when a storm rolls through. One homeowner learned this the hard way after violent winds rattled their house and the insurer came back with a shrug — just a few missing tiles, nothing major. Then an independent loss adjuster showed up and found $10,000 worth of storm damage the insurer had glossed over.
This gap between what insurers initially offer and what damage actually exists is more common than most policyholders realize. Insurance companies send their own adjusters first, and those adjusters work for the insurer — not for you. Their job, intentionally or not, can result in lowball assessments that leave you footing a massive repair bill.
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The play here is simple: never accept the first estimate without pushback. Hiring a public adjuster or an independent loss adjuster is one of the most cost-effective moves you can make after any significant weather event. In this case, it uncovered a gap that could have wrecked the homeowner's finances if left unchallenged.
Storm season is not slowing down, and neither is the pressure insurers face to manage claims costs. That pressure lands on you. Know your policy, document everything obsessively the moment damage occurs, and treat your insurer's first offer as an opening bid — because that's exactly what it is.
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