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I am one of the old timmers that can see many changes in working roof claims with minimal interior damage. I am 100 % convinced I can train high school & college students to scope these losses in one day. They would not be required to have any license as they would not be adjusters. They could be hired in any large city near a large wind event, and spend ever night in thier own bed.

Test squares, lifted shingles, weight of shingle, age can all be determined by these FICUS  TREE and become part of the adjustment. The insureds will present the claim and licensed adjuster will examine the data, before a line item estimate is written and approved by the insured. This would result in windstorm or other COVERED events events being inspected in a matter of weeks instead of months. Please read the Mostin lawsuit files in Galveston County Texas againest TWIA. 225 pages are repleat with allegations of "the adjuster said, Reggie Warren said, the good ole boys ganged up on the policy holder and made up the rules as they faced each day. The suit is replet with  xmate is the only program that is accurate, untrained people on thier first storm were unleased on the poor citizens of Galveston and Jefferson County, blather, blather All the real adjusters will continue have jobs, but license and training classes will not. .Greed from the hundreds of Vendors and Carriers who allow this practice, has brought the chickens home to roost on hurricane IKE claims.

moco,

When I started Texas licensing requirements were 40 hours per segment (property, casualty, comp, bond, health) with a test at the end. Leonards Training was the major school that taught the courses if you were not a staff trainee. It was not just for adjuster licensing but for agents licensing too. You had to learn policy and even the basics of measuring a room and roof with them. If you were willing to do that, you wanted to be in the claims business. Today, what can I say? These outfits that push the courses are only in it for the money.

I do not know when Texas dropped these requirements and joined the ranks of pay a fee, take a test, if you pass you be an adjuster with no idea of what insurance is. Be it as it may, it has surely lowered the standards of the license. There are many more scopers and appraisers out there than actual adjusters.

The last thing I would want to do is throw water on someone's ambitions or place blame on an "individual" who wants to enter into this business.  It's a great field and vocation.  I will put this in first person.  In the event my home was destroyed by a hurricane and it was my adjuster's first claim I don't think I would be particularly patient with him.  My premiums are paid up, the loss has occurred, and now and it is time to get my life back on track and in short order.  My insurance carrier is responsible to provide a skilled professional adjuster to adjust my claim, if only to protect itself.  In my tenure as a CAT adjuster over the years I have been reassigned many poorly handled files... (we'll leave it at that), and I am not completely without failure in this area myself.  What I hear from posts on this blog is "you've got to start somewhere".   I hopefully I am not alone in thinking that those of us whom started with an insurance company, or as IA staff, or those who have worked as CAT IAs for awhile have found that the job is more in depth than that.  The notion that, here is your license, now here are your first forty files, congratulations, you are now a fully functioning "All Lines" Texas Property Adjuster.., this is just  absurd.  Often those same forty files are the one's where the "newbie" finds that maybe he or she has bitten off more than he or she can chew, and just leaves the area... or these forty files are so poorly scoped and the insureds are so irritated, the loss is reassigned and reinspected, the file is then passed from adjuster to adjuster.  This is followed with the insured, the adjuster himself, his IA firm, and the carrier being served a law suit.  Even those of us who are experienced end up in lawsuits under the best of circumstances.  If you ask those who sat at home for awhile this year, I believe we can all agree, there are plenty of "licensed" adjusters.  Who I want to handle "my" claim is an adjuster who has maybe worked a few thousand files and hopefully not solely in a disaster area.  What's unfortunate is that as CAT adjusters whether it is individually true or false, we are all lumped together as less than property insurance adjusters by many, and not self governing as an industry.  This is where the irritation becomes more personal, and that is where I wish more could be done to raise the bar... not for the insured's solely but also for us as professionals in this field.  We as an industry need to be more responsible governing ourselves in these areas somehow?

Property adjusting isn't what it used to be.  If I see one more CADO banner ad for a "new" adjuster school I'm gonna hurl.  I have been at it 20-something years and I still am learning.  What ROI can anyone offer a vendor cat company with a state adjuster's licence and 2 weeks of "certified" training on a software program?  All I can tell you is it a negative number because the vendor who hires these folks will be in lawsuits up to his or her kiester!  It's one thing to want to be a CAT adjuster (the money, the travel, the women....maybe not the women!) but it is a whole other thing to be a good one.  Adjusters have to start somewhere - this is true.  But the majority of resumes I see come across my desk are not worth the PDF they are transmitted in.  Basically they are:  Got my state license, went to 2-day cat training class, worked 20 claims with another adjuster, ready to work.  Now I want to assign claims to worthy adjusters as much as any vendor but, as a vendor, my firm is only as good as the last claim closed or event handled.  If my adjusters screw up, the carrier pulls its files on me or wont use my firm the next time around and I am sent packing.  Am I going to risk all of that on someone will little or no experience, I think not.  During an Andrew, Katrina, etc.  carriers may look the other way on claims that were not handled 100% up to par, but on regular cats only my best get to go....sorry, but that's the reality of the business.  At least one thing has not changed about CAT adjusting - a good adjuster will always get work.  Learn your craft in your own time and good things will come.  Just my 2 cents.

 Good evening everyone,

I recently got my license, and I took the class at our local community college. Yes, it was a 3 day course.  However, I have been a paralegal for 12 years and quite familiar with the legal aspect of P&C claims, so maybe that's why I found the course easy.  The trainers were great, but I felt the information was very basic and watered down, and then of course, EVERYBODY passed, and we were able to get our FL 520 License.  Now, I wasn't expecting to make $150,000 right off the bat.  I realize the best way to learn is to get in with a reputable company and learn from the ground up.  Based upon the diverse group of people in my class, I can understand how mass produced adjuster classes are hindering the industry.  Some of these people in my class I wouldn't trust with my dog, much less my home.  However, I think it's unfair to imply that just because I went through a 3 day licensing class, that I won't turn out to be a decent adjuster.  As everyone knows, you only become good at something through trial and error.  

Jessica

Posted By OkcLarryD on 14 Nov 2009 09:03 PM
Perhaps you should move on to stand-up comedy, Fl Boy, since you find it a "joke".

I don't consider what I've been doing for the past 30 some years laughable.

Nothing personal Larry, but 'joke' has more than one meaning and you are not in Florida. Read John Postava's post. I do not need career counseling from someone who needs 7 hollow points in a back pocket to be comfortable working claims in Detroit.