Commercial Business Claims

In 2019 the sale of commercial property insurance policies generated over 1 trillion dollars in the U.S. and over 8 billion dollars in Canada. Insurance companies regard these amounts as liabilities because they are responsible for providing coverage for the policies that are represented. In any business it is a priority to keep costs down and to save money wherever possible. This often creates a less than ideal situation for policy holders who have claims to file. The person that a policy holder interacts with most when dealing with a claim is the insurance adjuster that their carrier assigns to the file. This is also the person who ultimately decides upon the final settlement amount. Since the person who makes this important decision is an employee of the company, which has policies in place to cut costs wherever possible, the potential for a conflict of interests exists. For this reason laws have been enacted in practically every jurisdiction that insurance is available in that enable the consumer, or policy holder, to seek assistance from an outside party when they have questions or concerns about their claim or disagree with the settlement amount that their insurance company decides upon.

Professional, licensed, independent, public adjusters are available to act just as claims adjusters do for insurance companies but on the behalf of the business owner/policy holder. In most cases these professionals will review a file, free of charge, in order to determine if they believe that a higher settlement amount is achievable. In the event that it is determined that a higher settlement should be awarded they usually charge a percentage of the difference that they believe is obtainable through their services. The public adjuster handles all correspondence with the insurance company or any other party related to the file, writes a new estimate, with the use of computer software designed for this purpose and negotiates a higher settlement amount with the insurer.