After suffering fire damage, water damage, or other property damage from a disaster, it is understandable that the first call would be to your insurance company.

But what about your second call?

The very next thing you should do is call a Public Adjuster—an insurance professional who is NOT affiliated with your insurance company. A Public Adjuster advocates on your behalf and in your best interest to ensure the largest settlement possible.

When choosing a Public Adjuster, don’t settle for less than the best. Be sure they are not only licensed but deeply experienced and reputable, like ours at Adjusters International Basloe, Levin & Cuccaro.

Here are some reasons why:

1. Our Public Adjusters are licensed and maintain the highest industry standards.

Experiencing property damage to your business can be chaotic, frustrating, and confusing. You may be approached by several Public Adjusters offering their services. It is important to take a step back to ask the right questions to consider your best options.

For instance, is the Public Adjuster licensed? More specifically, are they licensed to operate in the state in which your business is located? If not, that Public Adjuster may not have passed the mandatory state exam and met other important requirements. If the person representing you is inexperienced, your insurance claim process can drag on and you may not receive all that you are entitled to.

Fortunately, with AI/BLC you have a full team of highly experienced, licensed insurance professionals who have worked for decades helping policyholders throughout New York State and the Northeast. Our firm is a member of the New York State Public Adjuster’s Association and the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters, which promotes a high standard of professional conduct for Public Adjusting. Our firm is also regulated by the New York Department of Insurance, and by the other state insurance departments where it works.

2. Our Public Adjusters are fluent in property insurance policies and experts at documenting and proving property damage.

Our Public Adjusters are insurance professionals with decades of experience in claim management. We understand the complex insurance language in property policies — no matter how intricate. Working closely with you, we make it easy to understand your policy, and introduce and strategize on the immediate and long-term options to help your business fully recover.

Our Public Adjusters bring our team of professional building estimators and content specialists to document the damage and provide an accurate valuation for the insurance claim. We also provide the expertise to evaluate your loss of income claim.

We have managed commercial property insurance claims for a variety of industries and nearly every type of disaster, including fire damage, flood damage, wind damage, and winter storm damage. We know what kind of damage can be missed or undervalued in every type of situation. We maximize your settlement because of our experience and thoroughness in the property claim process.

3. We know how to get you your settlement sooner.

We are aware of the possible obstacles that may appear between you and your insurance company during the claim process — from the initial inspection of the damage by their insurance adjuster, through the difficult negotiation process to reach a settlement. That is why the sooner we are on your team, the better we can position you to avoid any unnecessary delays.

We prepare a detailed and comprehensive insurance claim and advocate on your behalf, communicating with your insurance company along the way and challenging any oversights or under-valuations. In this way, we anticipate and push past potential problems to expedite your claim and get you a better settlement.

Data shows that the *use of a Public Insurance Adjuster increases the final amount of claim payments. In this report, for example, those who went through the claims process with a Public Adjuster explained that they would not have received the amount of their claim payment without one.

If you are a business owner with property damage and need insurance claim help, discover more on how our team can help save you time, lower your stress, and help your business recover.

*“Public Adjuster Representation in Citizens Property Insurance Corporation Claims Extends the Time to Reach a Settlement and Also Increases Payments to Citizens' Policyholders.” Report No. 10-06, Oppaga - Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability, Jan. 2010, www.oppaga.state.fl.us/MonitorDocs/Reports/pdf/1006rpt.pdf.