Florida's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and State Fire Marshal, Jimmy Patronis, issued an Emergency Rule providing protections for consumers impacted by Hurricane Milton. The rule provides transparency in loss estimation and claims adjustment processes to ensure consumers are properly and fairly compensated.
Adjusters are required to use an electronic estimating program to create or modify an estimate of loss. The report should include an itemized per unit estimate, including itemized information on equipment, materials, labor, and supplies. The program should use pricing data that is typical of the geographic area where a claim occurred, and that data should be updated at least monthly to reflect current prices.
Changes to the estimate produced by an electronic estimating program are prohibited unless the adjuster can prove a modification is necessary to produce an accurate estimate. The adjuster should provide detailed documentation, including current market prices for a specific geographic area.
Adjusters are required to provide a written estimate of loss within the time allowed by law. The estimate should include the line-item estimate by the electronic estimating program, a variation report that shows if the program was modified by the adjuster, and documentation to support any modification made to the program.
Modification to an initial estimate of loss is prohibited unless the revised estimate of loss provides a detailed explanation of the changes made and why, and includes the identity of the adjuster who made each change. Adjusters are also required to retain all versions of loss estimates.
The press release can be found here.