Insurance claim estimates are supposed to change
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I was recently contacted by a reporter inquiring about delays in Hurricane Ian claims. The first question I asked was when the public adjuster and/or attorney was hired. Notice I didn’t ask IF a public adjuster or lawyer was hired because when either or both involved, most likely a claim is delayed. The reporter was concerned that the homeowner wasn’t getting a new roof and their pool cage replaced. And the reporter wanted to know my response to an insurance company’s Department of Financial Services complaint numbers. Here was my response to this reporter. Would love your feedback as you read the below.
“The next time you do a story on a delayed claim and there is a public adjuster or lawyer involved, please think about this and don’t be fooled by their charm and swagger:
- It’s so easy for a public adjuster (PA) to say that their client should get a new roof. But if the policy doesn’t provide for a replacement roof or pool cage, then the PA is misleading the consumer by including it in their estimate. I suggest you always ask the PA to send you the policy language that supports what they are claiming. My gut? Most can’t produce the provisions and could go as far as refusing to share them with you.
- When a plaintiff lawyer is involved, they also get paid a percentage of the claim and there is an inherent incentive for the claim to be as costly as possible. Lawyers and PAs immediately stop the insurance company from communicating with clients so when a consumer says “I haven’t heard a thing,” the lawyer and PA most likely have emails and phone calls from the insurer. Astonishing to me that lawyers and PAs don’t tell the consumer that they have in their contracts that all communications must go through them, ceasing all direct insurer-policyholder communication. So my suggestion: When you do a news story, ask the PA or lawyer to send you the email where they gave permission to the insurance company to work with the homeowner directly, and to keep the PA or lawyer in the loop. That is what is best for the consumer.
- With respect to the number of complaints from consumers about Hurricane Ian claims handling, some insurance companies had upwards of 25,000 claims. So please put the complaint figures in perspective and ask the insurer for their total Ian claim count. If you got that total I think a more balanced statistic would be that out of approximately 25,000 claims or whatever the number, about 1% or less led to a complaint. In fact, I think the entire DFS Hurricane Ian complaint numbers are less than 1% for the over 700,000 claims filed as of March 2023. Now that is true perspective.”
It was calls and emails from reporters like that one, together with published stories on the same allegations by three independent insurance adjusters that Florida property insurance companies are cheating their policyholders out of rightful claim payouts, which prompted the subject of my latest Florida Insurance Roundup podcast. The three accuse the industry of altering their field adjuster reports and reducing claim payouts – all without their knowledge or approval.
My guests on the program include two independent insurance adjusters – both Florida natives – Shawn Kelliher and Vanessa McGonigal. Each have been in the estimating and adjusting business for more than a decade, including handling Hurricane Ian claims, and we discussed the various reasons why and how field estimates can change. We talked about how damage claims and their payouts are ultimately decided and by whom. Both also shared details on the built-in temptation by adjusters to inflate the claim estimate. Joining us on the program was Florida attorney Robert Schulte with the Louisiana-based Monson Law Firm. Bob has represented Florida insurance companies in homeowners and commercial insurance matters since 2012 and shared his skepticism of the three adjusters’ allegations against the industry. You can read more about our conversation and listen to the 32-minute podcast here. Please “Like” it and share with your colleagues and customers. Knowledge is power and consumers deserve the full story!
LMA Newsletter of 6-12-23
