Charlie:
Randolph says, “I remember you talking on your show about people that itemize your losses after flooding.” This is what Randolph wants to know. “Can you tell me who these people are? What they’re called? Where I can find them?”
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Tom:
Okay. You have three types of adjusters in the insurance industry. You have a private adjuster, you have a public adjuster, and you have an independent adjuster. The private adjuster works for a particular company. Those are the ones everybody hates.
Charlie:
A private one does?
Tom:
The private one works for, say, Allstate. He works for Allstate. Independent adjusters will be hired and brought in. They can represent all the different insurance companies because they’ll need so many of them, say, after a flood or something like that. In the state of Texas, you have the opportunity to hire a public adjuster that represents you and there are many out there that will do that. They will take a percentage of the claim, but the claim’s usually much higher. They do all the little bits and pieces that nobody wants to do, right down to how many pencils you lost in the flood, how many pairs of underwear. I mean, they will write it down, they will itemize it, and they will send it in, and they usually get your claim up to where it’s supposed to be. For many big claims, that’s what you need to do. For the small ones, you don’t need it, but for the big ones, you do.
Charlie:
You’re going to get a private one whether you want to or not because the insurance companies-
Tom:
Actually, the first one, people usually get after a flood or a hurricane-
Charlie:
Right. After a big thing.
Tom:
Is an independent.
Charlie:
Okay. But I mean, if I have a house fire, they’re going to send a private adjuster over.
Tom:
Well, no. Well, they could, but usually independents come first. Then when you don’t like them, then they’ll finally send their privates over. You can request up to three different adjusters with your insurance company in the state of Texas. The last request is usually their privates.
Charlie:
It’s a shame that they save their privates for last.
Tom:
You’re choking me up here this morning, Charlie. I need some water here. But Public adjusters are out there and there’s a lot of companies that’ll represent you.
Charlie:
All right, well-