An Excerpt from The Claims Game: by David Skipton
What we often hear from potential clients is, “Why would I need my own
adjuster? Doesn’t the insurance company provide me with an adjuster?” The
answer to this question is both yes and no. Yes, they do provide an adjuster
to investigate and settle your claim; but no, that adjuster does not represent
your interests. Instead, that adjuster is there to represent the insurance
company’s interests.
The business of insurance has undergone significant changes in America
throughout the last twenty years. Gone are the days when an insurance
company viewed its job as a true fiduciary responsibility of collecting
premiums from a large group of people and paying out fairly to customers
who experience a loss, thus fulfilling the promise to protect its customers
in their time of need. Have you noticed how all the old commercials and
slogans that used to run constantly on television and radio have all changed
in their messaging? Gone are all the timeless slogans telling you how much
you can depend upon your insurance company to protect you in the event
of a loss and what great partners in the community they are—slogans like:
“You’re in Good Hands;” “Like a Good Neighbor;” and, of course, “Fast,
Fair, and Friendly.”
Today, insurance companies’ commercials are designed to send a
completely different message. It seems that they intentionally downplay
how much of a partner they will be during a time of loss and instead have
adopted more generic themes, such as that losses can happen and you
need to insure yourself from them. This is apparent in ads like
“Mayhem” commercials, where Mayhem is causing all sorts of destruction,
and “Humans: imperfect people living in an imperfect world. Responsibility; what’s your
policy?”