Hurricane Ian: State of Insurance in Florida

Hurricane Ian has caused all possible disaster in Florida that was expected of it and it will take a while before normalcy returns in this southeastern US state that is presently marred by wrecked houses, overturned cars, heaps of debris, and uprooted trees. Loss of lives was on the cards and fatalities have happened by the dozen. Power failure is a corollary of any natural mishap and for whatever duration it took place, it must have taken a serious toll on a lot of livelihoods.

Of all the sectors that comprise and contribute to the Floridian economy, one that will be most active presently is the insurance industry for claimants will be desperate to get compensated at the earliest and have their losses covered. So, before we move further, let’s first discuss the types of claim that will be filed in the wake of the recent tempest. One that is pretty obvious is storm damage and with reports of certain parts getting swamped, flood damage cases too are bound to be registered.

If you have the time and patience to wait for a while before your insurance company reimburses you for your losses and you are hopeful of getting a just reward, you need not involve anyone else. However, if you fear that you might get a raw deal and are in desperate need to get your damaged property repaired and restored, hiring a public adjuster will be highly advisable.

Storm damage claim & need to hire public adjuster

Unless you do not know how roping in a claim expert will result in a marked difference, you will not actually feel convinced to take this step. So, instead of just harping on the facts that your claim amount will be maximized and your claim will be settled faster, we will actually share some critical insights that will make you more inclined to seek expert assistance.

It is a given that after a catastrophe, insurers reach those places first that have reportedly sustain greater damage. If your property does not fall in this list, your public adjuster can highlight some special needs of your family and persuade your insurance company to prioritize your case as well. And if your property is damaged in such a way that the scenario may worsen with the passage of time, your meeting with your insurer could get fast-tracked.

An experienced public adjuster will come to your aid whenever there is a new issue. For instance, post your claim settlement, if you discover that you forgot to mention a few items in your list of losses, your claim specialist may elicit some extra payment from our insurer if the whole coverage limit is not consumed. Such professionals are given to giving quality advice. After any calamity, victims are asked to take pictures of the damaged areas and belongings but if clicking images is not possible, your adjuster will probably advise you to have a written record of the damage.

You may be keen to quickly dispose of all the hazardous items after a major tragedy but a public adjuster may suggest that you take their pictures so that they come in handy later during the claim process. Some minor things make a major difference. You may be oblivious of SMS alerts but your public adjuster won’t. So again, they will tell you to avail the SMS facility of your insurer so that you are sent an alert instantly when an estimate is decided or a payment is to be made.

Chances are you may still be coping with the after effects of Hurricane Ian that may have forced you to relocate temporarily to another place after your dwelling became uninhabitable. Similarly, your belongings may be lying in a storage. An accomplished public adjuster can get you recompensed for the expenditures that you incur in such cases by getting you a check for additional living expenses, storage charges, and the money that you pay for your food, lodging, utility installation, transport, etc. during your makeshift arrangement.

Hurricanes are an annual feature in Florida and 1 June in fact marks the start of the hurricane season that ends in November. So, we are in the middle of the hurricane season presently and the ravages of Hurricane Ian weren’t really a bolt from the blue.

Now let’s talk in numbers. As we mentioned before, you will take a dim view of hiring a public adjuster for your insurance claim unless you are not told how drastically the outcome may change with the decision that you make. If you are a homeowner and yours is a serious claim, your public adjuster could get you 700% more than what you imagined and you should not be surprised.

Based on their expertise and experience, public adjusters know how storms affect families and businesses and hence they can take your case to its logical conclusion much faster.

Flood damage claim & need for public adjuster

So, we now come to the other type of insurance claim that Hurricane Ian is forcing a lot of Floridians to file i.e. flood damage claim. Many Americans wrongly believe that flood damage is covered in homeowners’ insurance but this is not true. For this reason, a lot of homeowners in US have a separate coverage for flood damage and if you didn’t as a resident of Florida, you may now be regretting a lot.

Floods have a lot myths associated with them. If your house is situated far away from the coastline, you may assume that you will never be troubled by any flood. Similarly, unless water intrusion does not force you to move upstairs, the matter may not be taken very seriously. Whereas the fact of the matter is that a few inches of water logging can cause losses worth thousands of dollars.

Flood damage claims aren’t that simple and easy. One mistake on your part can see you getting underpaid or your claim being rejected completely. And again, if you seek the services of an established public adjuster, there is a probability that your reward may get doubled or tripled.

Conclusion

All this while, we have talked a lot about employing a public adjuster and one public adjuster who can indeed do for you all that we have discussed above and enjoys tremendous goodwill in Florida as a result of his impressive track record is Benito Paul. Benito has written thousands of estimates for leading public adjusting and law firms and settled endless claims amounting to millions of dollars. No insurance company, no matter how big or old it is, fazes him and now is an ideal time to leverage the talent and experience of this man who himself is raring to come to the aid of the people of Florida whose lives have been thrown out of gear by Hurricane Ian.