Back in 1996, Kevin Hromas followed the advice of a family member and began a new career as an Allstate staff adjuster after closing his construction business. Soon after, he began serving as a liaison to Pilot Catastrophe Services, where he became familiar with the independent side of claim handling. Since then, he has since worked every major event since starting with Hurricane Isabel in 2003.
Claims' Eric Gilkey spoke with him to find out what kind of qualities it takes to be an independent adjuster, what some of the unique challenges are that they face, and learn why so many adjusters express such great passion about doing their jobs.
What does it mean to be an independent catastrophe adjuster? What kind of person does it take to do the job?
Classic type-A personalities! Self motivated, diversified, opinionated, and highly qualified are appropriate adjectives. Some of the most intelligent and insurance-savvy men I know are catastrophe adjusters. You have to pack up your life at a moment's notice, travel many miles from home into disaster situations, and then immediately try to help people begin the process of rebuilding their lives through their insurance claims.
Are there adjusting challenges that are unique to independents?
There are as many policy variations as there are states and carriers. Often assignments are handed to you with little more than names and addresses. You might get 100 at a time, with the admonition to call every one within 24 hours and inspect within 72 hours. Insurers also sometimes want you to obtain agreed pricing with no settlement authority.
You're sent to adjust claims in a disaster area. What three tools do you take with you?
(1) My RV, since it gives me a "home" to come back to each night (and I avoid taking a hotel room from someone who just lost their home). Plus my wife and two dogs often can go along to keep me sane. (2) My laptop computer, because that is the only way I can stay organized. (3) My cell phone, because the insured knows that there is someone on the other end of that call, someone they've met face to face who will answer their questions, address their concerns, and who really cares about them as a person and not just as a policy number.
You recently launched a new web site — www.proadjuster.org. What sets your site apart from others that target the professional adjuster?
There are no advertisements and isn't any censorship. Since my wife owns an ad business, she is not thrilled about the no-ads part, but it allows for the no-censorship side. As a group, [adjusters] are a bunch of hard-headed, ornery, opinionated old cusses, and we have some knock down, no-holds-barred discussions. My philosophy is that if you cannot defend your claim handling to your peers, you sure don't want to have to do it on the witness stand in a bad-faith claim situation.
What's the best part of your job?
That feeling you get inside when you are such an integral part of helping people get their lives back together after a catastrophe. Carriers need to have a better appreciation for the fact that the adjuster who stands face-to-face with an insured is the personification of all those marketing slogans and promises they have been using to sell their policies. During a major event, a high percentage of those men and women are independent adjusters.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.