Fire Victims Beware
Source: Ventura County Star

Our hearts go out to those of you in our community who have been victimized by the recent California wildfires. The blazes have cost many people their homes, personal property and, tragically, some have even lost loved ones. Although many victims are currently dealing with extremely devastating circumstances, they must be aware that now is not the time to be further victimized by ones own insurance company.

Many fire victims may have already been contacted by their insurance company representatives regarding the nature and extent of the victim/policyholder’s fire damage. Insurance company advertisements are filling the airwaves, indicating that insurance company adjusters are being deployed to help their policyholders "get back on their feet" after the fires.

The first and most important thing everyone must remember when dealing with insurance companies is that insurance adjusters are not your friends. Insurance adjusters work for the insurance company, and are completely focused on paying their policyholders as little as possible on their claims, if anything. The adjuster may be very nice. The adjuster may even appear to be sympathetic. Do not be fooled. It is the insurance adjuster’s job to find a reason NOT to pay their policyholder’s claim, or to pay as little as possible.

Insurance investigators and adjusters are professional negotiators. They are trained to intimidate, hassle and use psychological techniques in order to get policyholders to settle their claims for far less than they are worth. The primary goal of an adjuster is to settle a victim’s claim quickly and BEFORE he or she has an opportunity to determine the exact nature, extent and value of their claim/damage.

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