| Author |
Message |
ddehlinger
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 04, 2000 - 6:40 am: | |
Gale & Jim
Don't forget that Iniki hit Hawaii several weeks after Andrew and that put a further drain on the resource pool. I agree with Jim on the number of "real" adjusters at no more than 2500. Too many of the carriers relied on untrained support staff to handle claims and got themselves in a heap of trouble that the "real" adjusters had to straighten out.
If something doesn't develope soon, this could be a real bleak year for many, and will no doubt, cause many to rethink their choosen path. So, that 2500 or so will be thinned out considerably by the next season. |
Jim Flynt
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 04, 2000 - 12:59 am: | |
Gale, I don't think that anyone collects or keeps the kind of information you are requesting. Without a doubt, the number of adjusters and insurance personnel in the Miami area for Hurricane Andrew would have to have set a record were there one.
While the State of Florida "required" all "adjusters" to "register" with the Florida Department of Insurance, many adjusters did not. Perhaps someone could inquire of the Florida Department of Insurance and learn how many adjusters were registered for the Hurricane Andrew event.
I have heard numbers bandied about regarding the number of adjusters who were in Miami, at least for the beginning of the storm assignments. Those numbers range from 2,500 to upwards of perhaps 5,000-8,000 adjusters.
My personal guess is the number of "adjusters" were probably in the range of close to 5,000 adjusters, but this included staff adjusters from around the country who were brought in by the carriers for a short period of time (perhaps a month to 6 weeks) as well as carrier staff personnel from out of state or corporate office underwriting, risk management, loss control, premium auditing, or any other insurance company department that could spare "warm bodies." Thus some who were working as either adjusters or support personnel while having some familiarity with insurance and the claims process, were really not involved in the day to day claims process in their regular staff capacity.
Additionally, many retired staff and independent adjusters came out of retirement to work this storm, although on a more limited basis and for a shorter period of time than most regular catastrophe adjusters.
And, let's not forget that we had several hundred of our Canadian adjuster friends come down to Miami to help out as well.
The number of "real adjusters" was probably in the range of around 2,500 to 3,000 "real adjusters" and this includes not only independent catastrophe adjusters, but staff adjusters from around the country.
I do know that the American insurance system was strained due to the demands of the Hurricane Andrew event, and claims handling in regular offices in other parts of the country were slower and less responsive due to the strategic deployment of staff to Miami. Insureds who filed claims for auto damage, fire loss, propery losses, theft, etc. in other states were forced to wait in some instances for quite some time before they had an adjuster handle or visit their loss location due to the scarcity of adjusters available within the American insurance system.
Just my opinion. Hope this helps.
It is an interesting question. Let us hear the thoughts of others. |
Gale (Gale)
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 03, 2000 - 9:38 pm: | |
Is there any records that indicate the most adjusters ever to be working at the same time in the past several years regardless of thier qualifications? |
Rj (Rj)
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 2:51 am: | |
Danny: On the surface you are asking a very simple question. Unfortunately, there are no simple answers to your question. First of all "they" as referred to in your question just do not exist. What I mean by this is there is not any one single source "they" that has a list of all the cat adjusters and there never will be. Also because anyone that has been in this business for any period of time and is good at what they do know that in order to work continuously they have to be on as many carrier and adjusting firm rosters as possible. Another problem in even trying to guess at the number of catastrophe adjusters is that this business is very hard on anyone who elects this profession and as such very few will last more than a few years before stress & financial reasons force them to change their profession. You see Danny for anyone to be a true catastrophe adjuster he or she must possess a wide range of knowledge and experience in many different fields. Now if you are curious it has been estimated by several of my piers on this site that perhaps less than 200 such individuals exist in this profession. However, there are several thousand more that have varying skill levels. Contrary to anything you may have heard the time it takes an individual to gain the knowledge and experience to become a true catastrophe adjuster is more than most people can endure. Most individuals will either quit or change occupations before they reach that level of expertise. Speaking of time I would guess that most catastrophe adjusters are at least 45 years old before they have gained the knowledge and experience I am referring to. So you see a true catastrophe adjuster really will only have an average of 20 years to practice his or her profession before retirement. This is not a profession for the weak of heart or mind. |
Rj (Rj)
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 2:50 am: | |
The following question was posted on the bulletin board. Bulletin: How many cat adjuster do they have today on market. Not what each company have because some cat adjuster's are on every bodys list nothing wrong with that but how many are available. Posted By: Danny mechine102 09/19/2000 4:20:57 PM. As this was a question that may involve a discussion rather than that of a bulletin, I have posted it here for discussion. |
|
