A Public Adjuster is a licensed insurance professional with no affiliation with insurance companies representing insureds only. Public Adjusters (PA) were sanctioned in state legislatures so that consumers could have an outlet for becoming educated and finding representation without going straight to an attorney, allowing for more significant recovery for insureds and fewer insurance cases in the courts. In this sense, we are a cheaper option than an attorney in most cases and avoid lengthy court battles.

We become your legal representative for the insurance claim and will receive all correspondence on your behalf. We deal directly with your insurance company, handle all the research, perform all damage assessments, forensics, and reporting, and advocate on your behalf so you can claim what you deserve stress-free. We have extensive knowledge and experience with local repair and service facilities. We will not only explain and guide you through the insurance claim process but also guide you through understanding the damage to your vessel. Most insurance company adjusters need to learn the marine industry and determine your payout with little research and evidence. We will fight back with years of knowledge and hard facts.

We may also provide the necessary information on total loss documents, challenge or fight salvage or yard expenses, challenge insurance salvage/buyback quotes, and file paperwork on personal effects, boat equipment, or obtain over or above your policy limit based on clauses that may exist in the policy.

Like all Public Adjusters, we get paid a percentage of the total claim recovery we obtain over and above previous settlement offers only after successful resolution and payment of the claim. Florida law limits the chargeable percentage to 10% for losses occurring in a named storm or state of emergency and 20% for non-emergency. We assess each claim individually and charge different rates for each case. We will review the exact amounts and reasoning for the percentage as we discuss the claim with you.

You should contact us immediately after the loss, after reaching the necessary emergency services, and after you have informed your insurance company that something has happened. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can notify you of your rights and get you in the right direction.

You can also contact us any time during the claims process or after the claim is fully resolved if you feel you were compensated unfairly.

An attorney can sue your insurance company and represent you, charging up to 33% in addition to legal fees and expenses. A Public Adjuster cannot file suit but can file and pursue complaints with the state, report, and document damage usable in filed complaints, and file for/represent you in mediation or appraisal proceedings. Florida law requires insurance companies to deal with us. Attorneys can later use our research, reports, and documentation of insurance company behavior if you choose to utilize one later.

We include expenses for most expert testing and reporting included in our fee. This excludes some laboratory testing and estimation charges you may need to pay for, which we will then get you reimbursed for by the insurance company.

You will pay for the estimate, and we will get the estimation costs covered by your insurance in almost all cases. When we recover the estimation costs for you, we do not charge our fee to this amount or any other expense that we recommend you incur (such as preventing further damage or moving the vessel).

It is common for anyone involved in a boat loss to advise on what to do and how to manage a claim, and their doing so is illegal. U.P.P.A. (Unauthorized Practice of Public Adjusting) means that only a licensed insurance professional can legally advise you regarding your claim. We have heard terrible advice given to our clients by repairers or marina personnel. Remember that only an attorney or licensed insurance professional can offer accurate and helpful information in navigating your claim.

If you need our help, you must sign a representation contract and letter of representation. Once you complete this, we will handle everything.

No. Even though insurance companies know this, they may (and regularly do) try to contract or deal with our insureds directly. Take notes of the name of the individual, the exact time of the call, and the phone number they called from. We utilize this to file a complaint with the Florida Department of Financial Services, as this is bad faith.

Bad faith is when insurance companies act illegally or prioritize their profits over their responsibility to find coverage owed to their insureds reasonably quickly and respectfully. Suppose an insurance company offers you a lowball figure for damage to your vessel without sending anyone to inspect or create a detailed estimate. In that case, this may be considered bad faith. We specialize in dealing with bad faith. If you have thought, “My insurance company is screwing me over,” this is likely what is happening.

We will never suggest that this is the correct course of action. Still, you may determine that an insurance company’s refusal to accept or acknowledge our joint efforts is grounds to do so. If this happens, all of our work product and continued expert efforts may continue to assist you.

We receive our percentage out of your payment. The insurance company will sometimes do this automatically with a “Direction to Pay” form. In most cases, they will not assist with this. In these cases, we have contracts and special accounts to accept the full payment and issue all subsequent payments to you or all parties shown on the policy. Our representation contract clearly outlines what this entails, and we can discuss all the possible means to handle this with you.

While other public adjusters split their focus between residential water, storm, mold, and fire damage, we dedicate our entire focus to the marine industry. We will help you with new claims, ongoing claims with an unfair payout, supplemental claims for closed cases, and denied claims. We can handle any form of damage.

We are a local small business, so you can be confident you have direct access to your marine expert and public adjuster. While other public adjusting firms may have experts on their disconnected outsourced team, we have the experts themselves communicate with you. We are P.A.s, past insurance company adjusters/surveyors, and marine experts in one tight-knit squad. We work closely with you and will never pass your claim to other firms or adjusters.

It requires knowledge of insurance, Florida Law, vessel construction, and intensive marine systems to properly analyze a maritime damage claim. We possess the niche licenses, certifications, and experience to do so on an expert level. See our qualifications here and see our reviews here and contact us for more information.