What’s up, public adjusters!

This week, we have a special educational edition for you.

You can join me in the YouTube video of a live claim study on Sanibel Island in Florida.

Hurricane Ian devastated a large property containing both residential and commercial buildings.

The damage is almost unbelievable; A large water surge literally lifted a whole building and placed it ten or so yards away from the foundations, destroying everything else.

What was left was unusable in any way, and the rest was reduced to shreds.

You would think the claim process would be straightforward with destruction like that, right?

Well, here’s what we will discuss in this blog post.

👉 The difficulties with proving total destruction with hurricane Ian claims.

👉 How has the insurance company reacted so far.

👉 What we plan to do next.

👉 And what you can do with similar claims to improve your chances of success.

Okay, ready?

Let’s get into it.

Sadly, the property you can see in the YouTube video is one of many damaged properties left by hurricane Ian. 

Other than making it difficult for homeowners to continue their lives, hurricane Ian claims are also full of headaches for public adjusters.

The reason is that on most of the policies flood damage limit is significantly lower than the cost of full repair.

And the insurance company will argue that most of the damage was due to floods, not wind.

But, as you can also see in the video, one building has one side utterly torn apart.

So the question is, is this flood or wind damage?

It is our responsibility to find proof and arguments that work in the policyholder’s favor and help them get the money they need.

You will likely need special training for public adjusters to achieve these tasks, especially with the new Senate bill active.

Because the solution now becomes using your expertise and credentials to prove your arguments.

Remember, you do not have attorneys as your trump card anymore!

Don’t give the insurance company extra credit and think they won’t make it difficult to argue a total loss if the homeowner has to build from scratch.

As a public adjuster, you should always expect the worst and prepare your most effective arguments.

Here’s what the insurance company has already done, or not, in our case;

👉 They paid the maximum coverage for the flood part of the policy.

👉 But they haven’t paid anything for the wind damage.

👉 And they sent an engineer to inspect the property.

The second and third points are crucial for this situation.

Firstly, it is excellent that they paid the maximum amount for flood damage. The client could start using that money for repairs immediately.

However, the overall repair cost will be much higher than what flood damage covers.

On top of that, they are past the 90-day limit in Florida, by which the insurance company should make their payment.

And secondly, even though they say they sent an engineer for inspection, I haven’t seen an engineer’s report yet.

But I have a plan to handle that and you will learn about it in just a second.

The problem with this claim is proving that some, or even most, of the damage happened because of strong winds.

I mean, it shouldn’t be difficult to confirm that just by looking at the devastated property.

But, hey, you never know, right?

The crux of working as a public adjuster is getting your proof and arguments in order. I cannot stress this enough.

Take a look at our handbook for public adjusters, you will notice most of it teaches you how to approach insurance companies’ arguments and make your own.

So, in this case, with the property on Sanibel Island, I plan to hire an independent engineer and get their opinion on the matter.

Why?

Because arguing hurricane Ian claims comes down to proving a total loss. 

Your job is to prove that the homeowner cannot live there until they bulldoze what is left and build from scratch.

That constitutes total loss and asks for the policy limit.

However, just because you think it does not mean the insurance company will agree.

The more expert opinions you have as support, the more realistic your arguments will sound.

And the more expertise you can show, the more sincere you appear to the insurance company.

Hence, you should get your certificates and training, especially now with the new senate bill rolling.

That is also why you should get an estimating expert if you do not have one in-house.

Remember, the more proof you can present to the insurance company, the less room you give them to disprove your arguments.