Advice is it worth hiring a insurance assessor to act on our behalf.

moneyspender1981

Hi,

I just wanted to ask for someone advice from anyone who knows, or poss had similar experience.

This is on behalf of my parents.

Quick background, they had a house fire and lost everything and are currently in the process of sorting things out with the insurance company.

My mum had good insurance, but has never dealt with anything like this before and is slightly pannicking that she may not get everything replaced and could poss be worse off.

They are speaking to a loss adjuster from the isurance comapny but has read that it is benneficial to hire your own insurance assessor company to act on your behalf to ensure that you get everything your entitled to and the true value of things basicly to look after their interests.

This is all really new to them and could do with some guidance, they litterally only have the clothes on their back so everything is needing replacing and guess its hard to repalce a life time worth of items.

has anyone got any advice or even stories that may offer some words of advice

any help much appreciated.

dacouch

It can be beneficial for large complicated claims especially where there may be a dispute over whether the claim is covered or not.

A good assessor will know your policy cover in side out, the theory is that their fees which are normally around 15% of your total claim plus vat where applicable (They often negoiate on their fees).

Employing your own Assessor would normally mean your parents claim is settled quicker and more efficiently so if thats what they want its worth considering.

I personally would recommend them for larger complex claims for commercial clients however thats not to say they cannot help your parents.

I would recommend that they research the matter by reading their trade associations information, take into account the costs they will charge in conjunction with any benefits BEFORE you ring a Loss Assessor as by their very nature they are quite pushy so it would be best to understand how they work etc first.

I hope this helps and no doubt you will have other posters leaving messages for and against Loss Assessors as they tend to raise controversy in the industry.

If you do not decide to use their services feel free to post questions on here and we will try to answer you

P.S DO not use the tradesman the Insurers recommend, its normally best to use a local builder you know and trust