Weather can wreak havoc for homeowners across the Unites States. Whether it is a hurricane, flood, tornado, windstorm, fire, or an earthquake, when disaster strikes homes and buildings will need to be repaired.

The January 2022 tornado that touched down in Fort Myers, Florida, with wind speeds over 100 miles per hour, destroyed 31 homes. Homeowners in Southwest Florida will rely on help from insurance agencies to assess their damages. Once the dust settles after a storm, policy holders sometimes end up waiting years for their claim to be settled. This is where Accredited Claims Adjusters come in to help.

What Does an Accredited Claims Adjusters Do?
Accredited Claims Adjusters play the role of assessing damages, providing a fair replacement value, and expediting claims for policy holders. Fire, flood, and storm damages are all disasters an Accredited Claims Adjuster would be licensed to assess. Other roles that a 6-20 Accredited Claims Adjuster might fill are appraising property values, assess rough costs of goods and services, analyze legal issues, gather more detailed information, calculate data, and prepare documentation for further investigation.

What to Do When You Need to Repair Damages to Your Home?
After a storm, safety is the first priority. It is important to make sure all family members or residents are accounted for and that you get to a safe location. With severe damage, do not enter the home if the structure or foundation is unstable. You will need to contact your insurance agent immediately to get the claim process started. Once it is safe to enter your home, you will need to take pictures of the damages for your insurance company. You may want to take videos of the damage as you walk through the house as well.

How to Make a Claim?
Once you have contacted your insurance company you will be able to start the process of filing an insurance claim. You will need to fill out claim forms stating the cause of the damage, where the damage occurred, and a little bit of your personal information to verify you are the individual who holds the policy. You will also need to provide the insurance company with documentation and the pictures and videos you took showing the damage. Many insurance companies have advanced to online claims filing either through an app or from a PC logging into the agency’s website. While you are waiting on the insurance company to send out an Accredited Claims Adjuster to assess the damages, you may need to make a few temporary repairs to prevent further damage. For instance, if your roof was damaged, you may need to put up some tarps to prevent leaks and water damage. FEMA can often assist with this service for free. FEMA will contract out to roofing companies, they will send roofers to your home for free tarp services. This service is typically free through FEMA.

What Happens Next?
Once the damage has been reported to your insurance company, an Accredited Claims Adjuster will come out to the site. They will walk around the site and assess the damages so they can determine the extent of the repair costs. They will prepare documentation of the damages to send your insurance company for your claims settlement. From there, the insurance company will process your claim. Once you receive financial compensation for the damages, repairs can then start on your home.

What Happens If I do Not Agree With the Claim?
The insurance company will foot the bill for sending the adjuster to assess the damages to your home. In the circumstance that you do not agree with the replacement or repair value the adjuster from the insurance company gave you, there is another step you could take. You could hire what is called a Public Claims Adjuster. A public adjuster works strictly for the policy holder, but if you decided to go that route to get a higher value to repair the damages, you (the homeowner) would have to pay the public adjuster out of pocket for their fee. Accredited Claims Adjusters play a vital role in the insurance claim process. A career as an Accredited Claims Adjuster is a great way to help storm victims in their time of need. Here at Educational Services and Consulting, we offer an online course for individuals to receive their Accredited Claims Adjuster designation.

If you are interested in learning more on how to earn your ACA designation, we invite you to call us today at (800)-309-2549 or visit online at https://escconnected.com/contact-us/