1. DOES REPLACEMENT COST COVERAGE PERMIT MISMATCHES?
FC&S Bulletin’s Q & A 479 states that the principle of indemnification obligates an insurer to pay for the undamaged portion of items (kitchen cabinets, roof, etc., etc.) where the replacement of the damaged portion will result in a mismatch. The Court in Higgenbothan v. New Hampshire Indemnity Co., 498 So. 2d 1149 (1987) said that because a repair of an Insured's roof which had been damaged by a windstorm could not be guaranteed leak proof, the company owed to replace the entire roof and was ordered to pay all penalties and attorney fees for taking their "arbitrary and capricious" position. Also see Mastin v. Sandy & Beaver Ins. Co., 461 N.E. 2d 332 (1983), Halloway v. Liberty Mutual Fire Ins.Co., 290 So.2d 791 (La. App. 1974), and Hutcherson v. Tennessee Farmers Mutual Ins. Co. of Columbia, 1987 CCH Fire & Casualty Cas. 288 (Tenn. App. 1986) for supporting cases.
2. WHY INSURANCE COMPANIES DO NOT LIKE PUBLIC ADJUSTERS.
A MUST READ
I have personally heard from several insureds that normally during the first or second meeting with their insurance adjuster he/she will say to the insured who has had a fire, tornado loss, water damage, or any other type of loss, that they should "watch out for those public adjusters" who will contact you to take your money; THAT should scare the daylights out of an insured and show them that insurance companies do not like public adjusters.
I will share with you a couple of true situations, just to prove my point here.
1. An insured called me who had a loss to their property. I asked her how she heard of me and she said a friend told her about our company and that she should allow me to review her file. The thing was, her claim was over 1 year old!! Anyway, I met with the insured and they told me that the insurance company warned them that a public adjuster would probably call them and if they did, to tell them that everything was alright and they did not need the services of a public adjuster.
Listen to this. I did take the job and found out that they should have recieved thousands of dollars MORE than they were paid and it gets worse yet. The work was done poorly, but the insureds just did not know what to look for.
2. Another situation where an insured was contacted by us after their fire to their home. They mentioned to the insurance adjuster that I had contacted them, hoping that this may cause the insurance adjuster to "DO THEM RIGHT". About 6 months later, they finally became infomed enought to realize that they were being taken advantage of and they hired us. We got them over $200,000 MORE than they were going to receive!!
I could go on and on about why insurance companies do not like us, but the fact is that we work hard for the insureds, and it shows. If you have a claim, you should call us as soon as you can just to allow us to show you how much you SHOULD receive, money that you do not know about in most cases.
I will share with you a couple of true situations, just to prove my point here.
1. An insured called me who had a loss to their property. I asked her how she heard of me and she said a friend told her about our company and that she should allow me to review her file. The thing was, her claim was over 1 year old!! Anyway, I met with the insured and they told me that the insurance company warned them that a public adjuster would probably call them and if they did, to tell them that everything was alright and they did not need the services of a public adjuster.
Listen to this. I did take the job and found out that they should have recieved thousands of dollars MORE than they were paid and it gets worse yet. The work was done poorly, but the insureds just did not know what to look for.
2. Another situation where an insured was contacted by us after their fire to their home. They mentioned to the insurance adjuster that I had contacted them, hoping that this may cause the insurance adjuster to "DO THEM RIGHT". About 6 months later, they finally became infomed enought to realize that they were being taken advantage of and they hired us. We got them over $200,000 MORE than they were going to receive!!
I could go on and on about why insurance companies do not like us, but the fact is that we work hard for the insureds, and it shows. If you have a claim, you should call us as soon as you can just to allow us to show you how much you SHOULD receive, money that you do not know about in most cases.