This was part of an article accessed from Cado's home page about a proposed new law in Washington.\

"It used to be that real claims adjusters would study your claim, evaluate its value and settle your claim fairly. The $44 billion insurance industry in America changed the way it handles many of its claims in favor of computer software programs that spit you in and spit you out with a lowball offer on your claim. The new way to do business is compounded by industry incentives to reward adjusters who can settle claims for less or make claims go away all together. This phenomenon has been recently documented in independent investigations by CNN and the New York Times."

Does this ever nail the NEW insurance industry approached to adjusting right on the head.  Although I disagree that it is offical industry policy to reward denials, it does happen.  Although a lot of this refers to medical and injury claims, we see the claims practices that are outlined applied to Cat adjusting, and Cat adjusters and Independents being starved out of the business.

Automobile crash estimates are supplemented on a regular basis and most are done without a second inspection. A dwelling loss could also be supplemented with additional photos and a better explaination of the differance in unit price cost.

Many catastrophe adjusters seem to believe they are NOT a necessary evil. All Insurance carriers disagree and are working to eliminate this job description by any means possible.

Wes, your reply raises some interesting questions.

If you are knowingly offering the Insured a settlement amount that you know is a "low ball" offer, do you have any duty to the Insured to warn them? Or do they need to hire a PA or lawyer to receive a fair settlement?

If we, as Cat adjusters, accept that all estimates we write and explain to the Insureds are "low ball" then we have to accept that we do not receive fair compensation for our work (unless on daily or hourly rates).

Can we work in California (California Fair Claims Practices) with this knowledge?  

Ray is correct, we are under attack. But this cycle will turn. Will any of us survive til then?

I don't tell the insureds that my estimates are lowball but I do explain the supplement process and that if once they begin the work or hire a contractor or what have you if there is a pricing issue we can discuss it and issue a supplement if warranted. Let me be clear that I don't intentionally lowball per say but I am well aware that the pricing database for my estimating system is low and I am under instructions not to alter the database. Let me quantify further by stating for the record I am a daily claims adjuster in the Miami area. Although adjusting claims in Florida/Miami should be just like in any other part of the country I can assure you that is about as far from the truth as you can get. SE Florida is its own little insurance claims world with a whole different set of rules than any where else I have ever worked.

Many large metro areas are akin to Dade County. Regular daily claims are worked more on an agreed price estimate than storm claims. Many of the fee bills reflect this additional work.

If catastrophe adjusters were allowed to increase the unit price, this would be a larger problem than the wind damage.

I don't think anyone could agree that there is a big conspiracy going on.  Adjusters working daily claims in their home area likely find the unit pricing pretty close in normal times.  In times of a cat, the pricing quickly inflates on the street but not on the software.   But it later settles in.  Cat adjusters going to unfamiliar territory are under the gun to run/estimate losses in high volume without the benefit of time or normal adjusting resources (personal experience with the local contractors to obtain agreed prices).  Obviously, this is going to appear to be "low ball" estimating in the aftermath of a cat.  If you think about it...what was contractor's quoted repair price on one of those blue roofs 2 weeks after Wilma vs. his price 1 year later when the roof was still blue?