Here’s how a typical personal property claim works: The adjuster asks you to list what you lost and provide photos, canceled checks, or receipts. The adjuster then compares (which can take weeks) and comes back with an offer. It is up to you to accept the offer or contest it. You may want to dispute the offer if you are pricing the wrong model of TV, computer, or camera; if the prices of the clothes you wear are from a discount store and you bought all your clothes at high-end department stores; or if it is depreciating
his clothes based on a five-year life, when his high-quality clothes had a much longer life.
Most people accept the adjuster’s offer with displeasure, though they may make you bend in some areas. They don’t know they have rights or how to contest the offer. But they do know that after a skilled and experienced adjuster has done their homework, it’s hard to move you from their position. Trust me: there is a better way.
Be in charge of your own claim. Research yourself. Request the amount you want and have solid evidence to back it up. Use your own inventory form. (The one provided by most insurance companies, if they offer one at all, is not entirely user-friendly or comprehensive.)
Using a manual or automated spreadsheet, here are the columns to
include in your inventory form:
- property description
- Quantity
- Age in years)
- Replacement cost source (store name or website)
- Phone number or web address of the store
- Expected life (in years)
- Today’s replacement cost (including tax)
- Depreciation percentage (age ÷ expected life)
- Depreciation amount (today’s replacement cost × percent depreciation)
- Depreciated value (today’s replacement cost – depreciation amount)
Taking your own inventory and calculating what you are owed before the adjuster does their own investigation is critical. If you’ve already done the legwork, you’re less likely to challenge your data. All any adjuster needs to justify paying what they want for your claim is good documentation from you for their file. The adjuster needs documentation so that when your supervisor wants to know why they paid you those amounts, they have all the information in writing.
The adjuster, after reviewing your data, will generally do one of two things:
- Pay what you ask.
- I’m calling you to discuss some items. (“You’ve used a 15-year life for clothes. We never allow more than 10 years.”)
There will be some give and take, but no matter how far he takes you away from your position, he will never be as far away as the offer he would have made if he had done the work himself.