Dealing with Illinois Insurance Adjusters – Their Role in the Claims Process and Their Authority

If you are faced with damage to your property caused by another person or by the weather or you have suffered any kind of injury and you own an insurance policy that covers for the type of damage in Illinois, insurance adjusters are the experts who will handle the claims negotiations on behalf of the insurer.

The Role of Illinois Insurance Adjusters

Most insurance adjusters are employed by insurance companies and their principal role is to evaluate the injury you suffered or the damage sustained by your property and to assess the value of the damage, providing a detailed, but preliminary cost estimate. In the case of a damage suffered by your home, the estimate will include the costs of the clean-up and of the restoration of the damaged part such as the room or the façade. The process is very similar in the case of damage suffered by your car – the adjuster will gather information about the incident that conducted to the damage as well as about the condition the vehicle was in prior to the incident and will subsequently determine whose fault the incident was and will provide a repair cost estimate.

The Process of Assessment

Insurance adjusters working in the field of claims related to property are trained to notice every tiny detail of the damage sustained by your property and they also know how to identify damage that was already there at the time of the incident such as signs of normal wear and tear. The adjusters who specialize in personal injury claims have also learned how to elucidate the circumstances of the accident and how to determine whose fault the incident was.

Be prepared that the insurance public adjuster in Illinois will ask tough questions about the incident and he or she will probably want to talk to witnesses of the event. In the case of auto damage, the adjuster will want to find out about how your car was maintained prior to the accident. If it is your home that suffered damage, the adjuster will also want to be provided proof that the damage was not a result of some sort of duties neglected by the homeowner.

The Authority of an Insurance Adjuster

Insurance adjusters are entitled to request further documents after they carry out the assessment of the damage or the inspection of the personal injury or they can decide to settle the claim straight away if the claim is under a certain amount (the amount depends on the level of experience the adjuster has, more experienced adjusters are usually allowed to settle claims valued to 10,000 dollars, maybe even more).

Once a settlement is reached between you and the insurance adjuster who handles your claim, the adjuster does the necessary paperwork and sends you the documents. If you claim more than the adjuster is allowed to settle for, he or she will need to hand over your file to a supervisor, case in which the process of reaching a settlement might get prolonged, so make sure you get a deadline by which the supervisor is supposed to contact you.