Today, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced an investigation into insurance policy clauses that punish homeowners for hiring help.
His office sent a subpoena to Velocity Risk Underwriters, LLC. The subpoena demands records about the company’s trade group memberships, its communications with other insurance companies, and any agreements to stop homeowners from using public adjusters.
The clauses at the center of this have a name: anti-public adjuster clauses. Under one of these clauses, if you hire a licensed public adjuster, the insurance company can reject your entire claim.
Read that again. Not reduce it. Reject the whole claim, because you hired an advocate.
The Attorney General put it plainly. “Insurance companies use their own adjusters. Homeowners should be allowed to hire an advocate on their side too.”
His office also stated a number every homeowner should hear. Homeowners who use a public adjuster can receive up to 30 percent more money on their claims than those who do not. That is the Attorney General’s office saying it, in writing, today.
Who carries these policies? The release names the homes that are hardest to insure. Beachfront properties. Houses with older roofs. These homes often sit on surplus lines policies. Most homeowners we meet never chose that market and could not name it. If your home was hard to place, your policy deserves a second read.
Hurricane Isaias just tore through exactly those homes. From what we see in the field, beachfront houses and older roofs took the worst of it, from Pensacola Beach to Milton. Some of those owners are about to learn what their policy says about hiring help, at the worst possible moment.
Here is how to check your own policy tonight. Your declarations page lists every endorsement attached to the policy. Read the endorsements, and look for the words “public adjuster” anywhere in the conditions or exclusions. If the policy says the carrier can reject your claim because you hired a public adjuster, you are looking at the clause the Attorney General is investigating.
Think your policy has one of these clauses, or that their adjuster missed damage at your home? Call 800.511.2240 and schedule your Free 21-Point Storm Inspection. We go through your home the way their adjuster should have, and we show you everything we find. And if your carrier is mistreating your claim, tell your story at 844-84VOICE.
Two things this investigation does not do. It does not change your policy today. And it does not stop your deadlines. If you have Isaias damage, your notice deadline still runs from the October 9 storm date.
The investigation will take time. Your claim cannot wait for it.
If you want a second set of eyes on your policy, call us at 800.511.2240. We will read it with you and tell you plainly what is in it. The insurance company’s adjuster represents the insurance company. A public adjuster represents you.