Fla. CFO Requests Deadlines Be Set for Insurers to Handle Storm Claims

October 21, 2004

  • October 21, 2004 at 10:08 am
    E Bartlett says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    He’s trying to get votes for when he runs for governor.

  • October 21, 2004 at 10:11 am
    j sitaro says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    You have got to be smoking wacky weed, so why dont we just break out the tissue and have a good cry over theese adjusters they sent to florida, well hear this i was hit by two countem two hurricanes, my house was destoyed, after three weeks of waiting to see an adjuster they send some joker from texas who knew nothing about florida,
    to stand in the rubble of what used to be my home standing around telling jokes to some sidekick of his, and im still waiting for him to crunch the numbers as he put it going on more than a month now, so dont tell me how there working on the largest damaged properties first, cause thats crap.
    try telling all theese people living in a trailer that with all the money this large insurance company has they cant put on more real adjusters to do what they are supposed to be doing. we dont care how many nights they have to stay up doing claims its there job so save the pity party for the real victims, who get low balled, lied to, stone walled, by someone who is playing with our money, all for profits for the share holders.
    please spare us……

  • October 21, 2004 at 10:35 am
    Joe Petrelli says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    There are only so many qualified, licensed adjustors available to review damaged properties. Given that the workload is distributed around the country, and for some companies around the world, finding qualified people to review 50000 to 85000 homes in FL is a significant, logistical problem.

    Good luck to all involved!!

  • October 21, 2004 at 3:48 am
    B Sigmon says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    I was with a large national independent in 1922 when Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida. Setting a deadline for inspections is ridiculous in a situation like this.

    Independents and carriers have a hard enough time dealing with the logistics of a storm damaged area and living under “war conditions” with out bureaucrats setting false expectations for consumers.

    All that will happen is that the adjuster will run by, take a photo to show they have been there and keep moving. Any reputable company does attempt to triage claims, get to the worst ones first and turn their files. This also ignores the fact that there are limited resources in the form of qualified adjusters in a catastrophe.

    While Mr. Gallagher is at home with his family at night, many an adjuster will sit up at a motel desk grinding out estimates and matching photos in an effort to help people restore their lives. Mr. Gallagher needs a dose of reality. He should be thankful that there are any carriers willing to write property coverage on the Florida peninsula.

    GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • October 21, 2004 at 4:30 am
    Jim Hill says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    What the hell does Gallager think the adjusters are doing? A given number of adjusters can handle only a given number of claims in a given period. Rules and regulations don’t change the fact there are only 7 days in a week & 24 hours in each of those days. Why doesn’t he double the number of days in a week & the number of hours in a day if he wants to help.

  • October 22, 2004 at 1:46 am
    b altman says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    The biggest JOKE is in his backyard. The worst on meeting with customers is CITIZENS. Why doesn’t he straighten them out first.

  • October 22, 2004 at 2:26 am
    John says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Well its official Tom Gallagher is playing to the side of Florida residents in a disgusting ploy, for a vote to be Governor. How dare he lay blame on insurance companies for what clearly was never planned for by anyone including his pet project Citizens Property Insurance Corp, nor his Department, The biggest problem companies are facing is adjustors that have 75-100 open claims, quitting and going to work for another adjusting company for a sign on bonus or a increase in payment fees. No it is not against the law, but frowned upon by the Department. Adjustors must notify the Department what firm they are working with, if they try to change, they sould deny the request or revoke the adjustors license. Four major hurricanes in 6 weeks, 2.2 million claims (so far) and approx 10,000 adjustors from all over the country (# according to the FL Dept). You do the math and tell me how long it should take to adjust a claim from start to finish and then it is time for Gallaghers office to tell us how to get it done in less time. People need to realize this is not your run of the mill claim and as bad as it seems it will get handled in time, but 30 days is an absolute JOKE. 6 weeks after the first storm I finally saw an adjustor for damage to my house. 9 weeks after the storm and the adjustor has not submitted the report to his adjusting company so they can forward it to my carrier, This is an excessive amount of time, but I dont expect a whole lot more, I have seen the devastation state wide and I am lucky so I wait until it is my time. Since Mr. Gallagher was the last elected insurance commisioner ever for Florida, it will be interesting to see who does get elected Governor next and to see who they appoint as the next CFO of Florida. I think the residents of Florida are smart enough to see that if you piss off enough of the insurance companies and they leave Florida, or stop writing because of a poor political climate, this will not be a good environment for the next administration

  • October 24, 2004 at 8:09 am
    Matt says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Everything appears to be slated towards the adjusters as the main bottle-neck in the claims handling process. We have a situation here in Florida where there are many quote “adjusting companies” that impede the overall process due to their personnel’s lack of experience. Due to the high volume of claims they will enlist the aide of temporary helpers who screen files turned in by “seasoned adjusters” and hold back files due to their own lack of knowledge. There seems to be no competence requirements placed on these firms. It would appear that anyone can pull together a group of temps and hang up their shingle and profit from the situation. The insurance companies could just have the adjuster do a “property evaluation”, on the deemed total loss property, establish coverage and have the file submitted for payment to the insured. Instead they require a more time consuming process of having the adjuster do a “stick build of the insured risk” which in turn gets questioned and help up by inexperienced file reviewers (lets not get into prideful, stupid arguments on I have macros and this speeds up MY work). Add this level of inexperience of some reviewers and their supervision at some of the so called “leader companies” in the adjusting company field and you have a chaotic situation (files missing, etc). Files being held up, that have exceeded policy limits, by an inexperienced file reviewer together with a similarly inexperienced, arrogant supervisor, questioning a few dollar charge that has no effect on the payout amount of the claim, should not happen. These individuals should be concentrating on getting the insured paid in a timely manner, in other words be a team player. The majority of the adjusters are trying to complete their portion of the work in a professional and timely manner. One reason being that they are carrying their own expenses out of pocket, and do not receive any compensation until after the insured is paid. Florida should spend some time and crack down on the price gouging that goes on at the motels, etc, etc. Quick review of policy limit losses, with only Property Evaluation to verify amount of coverage required, would help speed up the overall process. The adjuster on the front line has more communication time spent with the insured than any agent or carrier. Let’s stop complaining and placing the problem on the field adjusters and fix some of the flow problems – put some common sense, logic, and experience behind the situation rather than lip service. The adjuster remains the easy scapegoat for the incompetence at the higher levels.

  • October 24, 2004 at 5:59 am
    Richard Lane says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Our condo in Cocoa Beach was “hit” three times…each time the adjusters for the building and individual units visited three times in a timely manner!

    While the CFO is tring to impress the public “standing” up to company employee adjusters, he ought to direct his concerns to the worst offender, the company he has control over…Citizens!

  • October 25, 2004 at 3:47 am
    bj says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    So is Gallagher already writing his campaign ads for the next govenor election or not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*