Consumption and Real Estate
If you are an outside property claims adjuster, what does your job entail and do you enjoy it?
Question : If you are an outside property claims adjuster, what does your job entail and do you enjoy it?
I have an idea as to what you do because I work as a workers’ comp claims handler and thus, am familiar with handling one type of claims, but I want to know exactly what a day is like in the life of a property claims handler. Do you just visit the property, use an estimating software, and then start negotiating? How much time is spent at a desk entering information? Is it ever necessary to litigate the claim? How many claims do you generally handle at once?
property adjuster
Best answer:
Answer by mbrcatz
A good portion of the time, you’re going to spend marketing yourself, trying to get insurance companies to assign the claim to YOU. It’s HARD. Property adjusters will visit the property, review the policy forms, and estimate damages, and then apply coverages. It’s rather a bit different from workers comp, because you’ve got coinsurance issues, insurable interest issues, perils, etc. There’s not that much “negotiating”. What’s covered is covered, what isn’t, isn’t. There’s not as much fraud, as there is with workers comp.
But, workers comp is a more “all encompassing” coverage. Many, many people shop for property insurance by price . . . and don’t realize what’s NOT covered, until AFTER the claim.
You don’t handle claim litigation. Anything that needs litigation (not coming up with many things here, with PROPERTY claims) would be forwarded to a different unit. You DO spend a ton of time on the phone, and on your laptop.
Unless you have a major natural disaster on your hands, like a hurricane, you do NOT have the heavy workload that, no doubt, you are experiencing as an inhouse wc adjuster. That’s not a good thing – because outside adjusters are paid on a case by case basis, so it’s a lot harder to make decent money.
I’m a staff adjuster (not independent). I handle property and auto claims.
I spend about 50% of my time on the road and 50% on my desk.
You do go out to the home to inspect the loss. You have to be willing to go up on roofs and under houses. Personally, I’d rather be on a house than under it. But an eyeball light and good pair of coveralls are helpful when going under the house. Shoes with a rubber bottom are good for roofs. You can purchase Cougar Paws to go up on the steeper roofs. Most companies will have a ladder assist service for the monster roofs that are way too steep and way to many stories for you to get on. Most companies dont want you to go up on the dangerous stuff (don’t want the WC claims if you tumble off!). Your company will set a guide line for what they want you to do.
I have a 12′ ladder. So I can only get onto a 1 story house. Sometimes I’ll “pull up”. That’s when you use the ladder to get onto the 1 story part of the home and then pull the ladder onto that roof to use it to get onto the 2nd story. It’s not something I do often. Most of the time when I do it, the first story is realitively flat. I have pulled up on a gable roof before – but that’s pretty rare. My company takes the attitude that if you get on the 1 story section of home and it’s damaged, pretty good bet the 2nd story is too. They don’t require you to pull up or carry a 24 ft ladder.
Some adjusters will write the estimate at the home and discuss it with the home owner then. I like to scope and run. Meet the property owner and scope out the loss then move onto the next one. But I do discuss the scope with the homeowner. So they know what I’m going to do before I leave.
Then I’ll go back to my office and write up all the estimates, up load photos, write reports, issue checks. With things like roofs – I can spend more time on the paperwork than on the roof itself. My territory starts about 45 mins south of my office. Easier for me to spend 1 day in the field looking a stuff and then the next day writing estimates. Just depends on how your company wants you to do it.
I like to arrange my appointments in a circuit. Some days I start at the farthest out and work my way in. So at the end of the day when I’m hot and tired, I’m close to the office when I finish the last one. Other times I do a loop.
You have to work with the customers schedule. So, if you have someone that can only meet you at 5:30 pm….you’re working late that day.
Most property claims don’t get attorneys or go to court. Very little litigation. Sometimes a public adjuster. But in my area that’s pretty rare.
You do have to be able to discuss your estimate, scope with contractors/roofers. Some negotiation is in order but it’s not like negotiating a bi claim. It’s either covered or not.
The most negotiation you do is for the property liability claims (slip and fall, dog bite kind of stuff).
When a CAT hits….you’re going to work a lot of long days with out a day off. But that’s not an all the time thing. Just when a hurricane or something similar hits.
You don’t carry a big pending with property claims. Usually once you write the estimate and stroke the check the file closes. The only ones that hang around are the total losses (like total fires) and property liability claims.
I enjoy working property claims. It’s going to be a completely different animal than what you are used to.