Like many catastrophe prone states, Florida can suffer from an abundance of public adjusters before, and immediately following, any disaster. In California it’s wildfires and earthquakes. Here it’s hurricanes.
This was brought to my attention from a series of opinion pieces by the president of the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (FAPIA)–Don Phillips was highly critical of insurers and their managed repair programs. I published my opinion which, along with correcting Phillips mischaracterizations, raised serious questions about Florida’s system of PA remuneration which subtracts stiff percentages from policyholder claim payments.
It’s this system, and the fact that less costly consumer options are available, leading many to rethink consumer advice regarding public adjusters. Such options were not present in Phillips’ Op-eds, for example.
In response to agent inquiries, I helped the Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA) write a short piece on whether or not agents should ever advise their clients to retain the services of a public adjuster. Johnson Strategies has also been working with a California based consumer group, CARe, Inc., which had produced a consumer advisory titled: “A Public Adjuster May Not Be Your Best Option”. We worked together to adapt CARe’s original advisory to include Florida’s unique laws and regulations which include assistance available from the Department of Financial Services (DFS) in the form of “FREE” mediation.
The Florida version of CARe’s original advisory is available to anyone who wants it by going to my online library (see tabs above), and by choosing “Miscellaneous Documents” then scrolling to “Public Adjusters—CARe Consumer Advisory”. Feel free to download it, distribute it, tell others about it and/or provide links to other consumer organizations. Insurance agents who want to provide guidance to clients without being an advocate one way or the other can also circulate the link below via social media and other sources.
Of course, anyone can use CARe’s piece as a handout when making presentations or as a helpful guide to local newspapers which, for one reason or another, often seem to reflect only one side of the story.
Check it out: A Public Adjuster May Not Be Your Best Option.
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