With the recent hail and wind storm that hit VA and MD on February 25, 2017, the number of insurance claims was large enough for the insurance companies to bring in their “CAT Teams”. “CAT” is short for “Catastrophe”. In other words, the number of new claims from one event is so large, insurance companies must bring adjusters from out of town to handle the influx of claims.
Having an adjuster from a CAT team is not necessarily inherently bad. There are some advantages – typically CAT adjusters are independent and paid more for approvals than denials. Most insurers want to be seen as helping their policyholders when a catastrophe occurs, so when they’re under the microscope, they give the OK for their adjusters to approve claims. If the damage is bad, they know they’ll have to pay eventually so they might as well look good to the community. Eventually the spigot gets shut-off, but in the first few months after the storm, it is open.
But it’s not all roses with CAT adjusters. One issue you might see with them – and I just ran into this issue on a claim – is that they are trying to perform as many adjustments as possible in a short amount of time. They typically get paid by the claim. The more claims they close, the more money they make. A policyholder had a time scheduled for 4pm on a Saturday for the adjuster to perform the inspection. His chosen contractor was also present to be able to present the damage to the adjuster, as is the policyholder’s right. The policyholder and contractor were present at 4pm and waited for over an hour for the adjuster to show up. So what happened? The adjuster stated that he performed an inspection at 12pm that day without the homeowner present. Needless to say, the adjuster missed a plethora of damage, including interior water damage that he was unable to access.
The policyholder is not the type of person to accept that behavior and took his insurer to task for what happened. The thing that concerned him most, and I wholeheartedly agree with him on this point, is that the culture of the insurer made it acceptable for an adjuster to enter a property at an unscheduled time and significantly underpay a claim. He wondered how many other people were negatively affected by this type of activity but did not know they had the right to fight the insurer. The answer is: probably a lot.
It’s your right to present your loss to your insurer. If you wish to be present at your inspection, the insurer has the obligation to allow you to present the damage.
If something similar happened to you and you think your claim was underpaid, give us a call.
info@fair.claims
571-989-FAIR
