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Insurance Claim Help

by Juan Hovey

A disaster attracts a crowd. When the disaster strikes a business, it¹s often a crowd of public insurance adjusters, and they can get in the way of getting back in business. But a good public insurance adjuster can prove to be a valuable ally.

How? A big claim can put you at loggerheads with your insurer; you must prove your loss, and you and your insurer may disagree over the extent of your coverage. In a worst-case scenario, the fight can drag you into court-at the worst possible time for you.

To avoid this, many business owners hire public insurance adjusters to handle big claims. Although few insurers like to see them in the picture, they benefit the business owner in two ways:

They do the haggling with the insurer, freeing the business owner to concentrate on getting back to work.
Often they get a bigger settlement out of the insurer.
Few owners understand their own insurance coverage, and this puts them at a disadvantage in a disaster, particularly if they carry complex coverage like business interruption insurance, which replaces profits lost to a mishap like a fire.

Example: a clothing retailer¹s spring line goes up in flames. Figuring the value of the lost goods is easy; you total up what they cost and submit the claim under your fire insurance policy. Figuring the lost profits, is more difficult. In retailing, you never know what will set and what won¹t. A solid public insurance adjuster who understands your coverage and claims process can speed a settlement by reconstructing your profits over the last three to five years.

Public adjusters work on contingency fees ranging downward as the claims goes up; you can expect to pay 10 percent, sometimes more, for claims under $100,000. A good public adjuster can pay for the contingency fee by negotiating a bigger settlement than you¹d get on your own.

Find a good public insurance adjuster by asking attorney, accountant, lender and even you insurance agent. Interview these people carefully, probing their experience in settling claims like yours. Check references. Choose one who inspires your confidence and treat him or her as a partner in overcoming the difficulties of getting your business back on its feet.