In New York, a public adjuster cannot charge a fee higher than 12.5%. Most public adjusters charge a percentage of the total payment of the claim. Your compensation can range from 3% to 30% of your insurance settlement, depending on the size of your claim. The most common rate structures for public adjusters include fixed rates, hourly rates, or contingency charges. The only way the public adjuster is paid is when you, the policyholder, accept a final offer from your insurance company.
In the case of a minor claim, a public adjuster may be able to find text in your insurance contract that could result in thousands of additional dollars for your claim. You can check with the state's public adjustment agency for more details; in Georgia, this would be GAPIA. Whether you don't have time to process the slow payment process, or if you think your insurance company has offered you less than what it owes you, it's recommended that you hire the services of a professional public adjuster. A public adjuster is not affiliated with the insurance company and is only there for your benefit. This means that you don't have to pay your public adjuster until you decide to accept your insurance company's final offer.
An experienced public claims adjuster should be able to tell you how many hours you will have to work on the claim. For any home insurance claim, a public adjuster can point to the money in the claims to which you are entitled and that you didn't even know. After all, you can't expect the landlord to be an insurance expert. While most public adjusters are honest and competent in their work, it's still important to be aware of potential scams. For example, Florida public adjusters are not allowed to charge more than 20% of the final fee in a situation that is not declared a disaster, nor more than 10% if a disaster has been declared.
Most public adjusters will charge between 5 and 15%, and this amount may decrease if the amount of money paid to the claimant increases. If you're not happy with your insurance company's final offer, you can tell your public adjuster to keep pushing for a higher settlement. Thanks to this fee structure, which is usually a percentage of the final settlement, your public adjuster will be more motivated to request higher compensation. The applicant asked if a public adjuster could include the reimbursable expenses of external experts in their advance agreement. Some states have specific laws and regulations about how public insurance adjusters are compensated for their services.
