Why Insurance Companies Should NEVER Rely on Public Adjusters’ Experts to Settle Claims

The reason is simple: Public insurance adjusters do not hire experts without first determining if the expert agrees with the public adjuster's position on the claim. That is why you will never experience a claim in which a public adjuster submits an expert's opinion who disagrees with the public adjuster. By contrast, you will regularly find examples in claims where insurance companies obtain expert opinions which disagree with them. This is because insurance companies regularly obtain opinions from experts without first verifying the expert already agrees with their position. 

Most insurance companies just want to know the facts about a claim, and then to settle the claim in a fair and reasonable manner. Are there exceptions? Sure. There are insurance company adjusters and managers who at times may seek an opinion which already agrees with them. But by and large, having worked for or with insurance companies for over fifteen years, I can tell you that is not the norm. The norm for insurance companies is to obtain an expert's opinion when they do not first find out what the expert will say in his or her report, 

Having worked as a public adjuster for over ten years with public adjusters while representing insurance companies, it is a fact: You will never find a public insurance adjuster obtaining and submitting an expert opinion which disagrees with the public adjuster's position on the claim. This is because the public adjuster's fee is typical based on what is paid out on the claim, and public adjusters are not going to risk their fee in order to obtain an unbiased opinion on a claim. 

My experience as both a public adjuster and as an insurance company adjuster and claim supervisor tells me there simply are not enough ethical public adjusters practicing claim adjusting today for it to be the norm to find a public adjuster hiring a random expert who may disagree with him or her. Maybe someday this will change, but not right now, and in my experience not during the past several decades, either. Even if it changes significantly, the often compromising nature of public adjuster's fees makes it so there will likely always be a large number of public adjuster who will only use experts that agree with them. 

That is why you must never rely on a public adjuster's expert to settle a claim. You always consider what any expert has to say, but never rely on a public adjuster's expert. Because everyone already knows what that expert is going to say when it comes to the public adjuster's position on the claim.

For more information on this subject, see my video, "Insurance Companies Should NEVER Rely on Public Adjusters' Experts to Settle Claims," Property Insurance Claims Fraud Review (September 6, 2021), link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2TaP3xSmvg