Field Experiences of a Female Catastrophe Adjuster.

by  Randi Meyer

It was obvious that she was dead. Once you've seen a dead person, there's no doubt in your mind the next time you stumble upon Death's handiwork. And here I was, in a back bedroom of an old house in San Francisco, with two strangers, and a dead woman lying on the bed.

I'm a catastrophe adjuster, the only woman on a team of ten sent into San Francisco after high winds and heavy rain caused more property damage than the local adjusters could handle quickly. Only about 10% of the national pool of catastrophe adjusters,  or "cat adjusters," as we're called, are women. Of that 10%, only approximately 3%  work without a partner. I work alone. At that moment, I was quite aware of my solitary situation.

(Recovered Blog Post, first posted May 7, 2000)

A Blog post from the archive.

It occurred to me that this was just another perk of being a catadjuster.  I have lived in many places, been a gypsy most of my life.  When I think back, my life comes back to me in bits and pieces, as a bit of what happened in this place and a bit of what happened in that. 

Existing law creates the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner, and prescribes the department’s powers and duties. Existing law, the Insurance Adjuster Act, sets forth various requirements with respect to operation as an insurance adjuster in this state and prohibits a person from engaging in a business regulated by the act, or acting or assuming to act as, or representing themselves to be, an insurance adjuster unless the person is licensed under the act. Existing law also prohibits a person from falsely representing that the person is employed by a licensee. Existing law exempts a person from the requirements of the Insurance Adjuster Act if the person is employed exclusively and regularly by one employer, as specified, with which the person has an employer-employee relationship. If the commissioner declares an emergency situation, existing law authorizes a nonlicensed insurance adjuster to adjust claims if certain requirements are met, including that the nonlicensed insurance adjuster registers with the commissioner via a written letter naming the nonlicensed adjuster, identifying adjuster licenses held in other jurisdictions, and stating when the claims adjusting activity began in the emergency situation. Existing law requires an insurer to provide an insured with a written status report if the insurer assigns a 3rd or subsequent adjuster to be primarily responsible for a claim within a 6-month period.

From the Article Archive 
Title: Cat Adjusting as a Profession (Is It For Me?)
First Posted: Friday, November 26, 2004
Author: Gary White

My son is now ready to go to college away from home and excluding approximately 21 months in an attempt to try something different in my life as a "financial planner", I have been adjusting, supervising or investigating claims for almost 27 years. By the way, I have worked my share of hail, wind, tornado and hurricane cats for other carriers so I know from whence I speak. Even during the time while I was trying to become a "financial planner", I supplemented my income with adjusting temp jobs and contract adjusting work.

 There are many ways to approach the demise of the catastrophe adjuster.

   1) The fatal auto accident.

   2) The falling off the roof.

  3) The stroke

  4) The heart attack

Many of the above are related to the difficult and lengthily work hours we endure to provide our services to those that require them, as well as to provide for our families.

This article comes from a forum post that was made by rass3742 on 9/12/2006

One thing I’ve noticed is the incessant struggle between newbies and veterans of our industry, as they scrimmage to identify the paradigm of CAT adjusting.  As a veteran of claims adjusting myself, I have taken the long road here and know that I am better for it.

I have just recently become “active” in reading and posting comments; as such, I hope I am not breaking the rules of CADO by bringing the bulk of a post I already made into this thread.  I just think it’s a topic at the front of so many minds here that it might be of interest as its own discussion.

What I’ve been seeing, in a lot of the posts in the CADO community, are seasoned adjusters who are struggling with the seemingly never-ending complaints of start-up adjusters who aren't being handed a living on a silver platter.