October 30, 2024 • 24 mins
Learn what a Public Insurance Adjuster does
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Ask The Experts Atlanta is broadcast live Wednesdays at 10AM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask The Experts Atlanta is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Ask The Experts Atlanta Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
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Radio or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments
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(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to the Ask the Experts Show on W four
CY Radio and Talkboard TV, where we bring you educational
information from top local experts in the fields of legal, health,
financial and home improvement. Now sit back and listen to
experts in family law, association, law, hearing, laws, business brokers,
(00:47):
home care, along with many other topics. Now Here are
your hosts, Stevo and Sophia.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Hey, good morning, Florida. Welcome to another Asked Experts show.
So I love doing this show because I am My
home base is Florida, and this is our Florida market,
and I got to tell you I'm in the southeast
part of Florida and we have been sort of spared.
(01:17):
We ended up with a lot of tornadoes, but Southwest
Florida has been hit twice. All of our experts that
do shows with us in Tampa and Orlando had damages.
So this is the greatest show to do because we
are in hurricane season and today I read from a
(01:41):
meteorologist that they're saying hurricane season could go into December
this year. It's normally over at the end of November.
And he said there's a good possibility the southeast part
of Florida is going to be hit. And you know,
you wrote us saying we understand there are public insurance
(02:06):
adjusters out there and with all the homeowners we have,
this is the perfect show. Let me introduce you to
our great expert, Jason Soka. Hi, Jason, good morning.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
How are you today?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Good? I bet you didn't read what I read this morning.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
I didn't. I didn't have time to read anything with
all this you're so busy. Yeah, it's been very busy.
We're trying to help out, you know, the community that
a lot of people are suffering. I have a lot
of damage.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Unfortunately, they said hurt. They said the season is going
to go and do December this year, and that the
southeast has a good part and even explained why that
the southeast where you and I are is going to
get hit this year. So we're gonna pray and keep
(02:55):
our fingers crossed so that doesn't happen. Jason, tell us
your companies is people's insurance claim center. Tell people about
your company.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
So you know, here at PACC, we've been in business
for nearly twenty five years, you know, servicing, you know,
as a public adjuster. For those of you who don't
know what a public adjuster is, we're basically the middleman
between you and the insurance company to make sure that
your insurance company pays enough and covers your loss after
something happened. So it's not just limited to hurricanes. It
could be fire, flooding, plumbing issues, air conditioning links, there's
(03:29):
there's a number of things that can happen in your
house that you may be qualified to make a claim for.
And you know here at PACC, you know, since we
have twenty five years experience, we've worked multiple claims, you know,
hurricanes in the past twenty five years. We've worked in
two thousand and four, there was you know, Hurricane Katrina,
and in two thousand and five we had Wilma, and
(03:51):
you know, we had we had a nice time off
and then then you know, IRMA came in twenty seventeen,
and Ian came in in twenty twenty two and so on.
So well, we have the experience. We can deal with
any size claim, whether it's a small residential or a
large commercial. You know, we're dealing with the you know,
charter schools, with the office buildings of homeowners associations. I mean,
you name it, we can handle it. We have the
(04:13):
you know, the team behind us that knows how to
deal with these claims effectively and ensure that you know,
you get the most out of your claim.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
You know, most people, the common man does not know
the value. And the reason why I say that is
when I lived in Texas and of course we got
hurricanes down in Texas, I had flooding, and they may
be an offer, and what do I know what things
(04:43):
are worth, but it didn't seem right to me. And
a friend of mine said, you need to get a
public adjuster. And the things that I learned from that Jason,
that how can someone not get a public adjuster? Because
it was I mean, I got so much more money
(05:03):
with a public adjuster than I got on my own.
I mean just small things like they wanted to replace
different tile, but it would not have matched because a
tile I had no longer existed and they were trying
to cut corners. So it is so important what you do, Jason.
(05:24):
And also break ins too, right.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Yeah, anything robbery, I mean, we deal with it all.
But you know, listen, it's important to hire public adjustin.
You know, these days you see a lot of lawyers
now advertising that they do claims and they act. First
of all, I'll tell you about the lawyers. The lawyers
are going to take between thirty three and forty percent
to do the same thing the public adjuster is going
to do for between ten and twenty percent. So and
(05:47):
typically these lawyers are hiring the public adjustice to work
under them. So you're basically paying more and you're getting
the same thing. Why pay more? Come directly to the
public adjuster. Fight with us first, let us help you,
let us deal with it. Now. Look, if we get
into a situation where a claim is denied and they're
not covering it and your only option is to go legal,
then you know, certainly that's something that's important that I
would recommend that you do. But you know, in the
(06:08):
initial steps of it, call us, let us come out there,
let us take a look at it. There's no charge
charge for us to come. We work on a percentage.
We give a free consultation and you know, we can
help you specifically now with the hurricane. You know a
lot of people now the hurricane happened, you know, October ninth,
you know, Milton, and then before that it was it
was Hellen and September twenty sixth, I believe was the date,
(06:29):
and people got flooding, wind damage everything. A lot of
people are just scurrying and running to call their insurance
companies and get them out there, and their adjusters are
coming and they're they're starting to see their estimates. Now,
you know, a few weeks later and they're realizing, wow,
you know what, they might have twenty shingles missing off
the roof. They got paid for, you know, a patch
when they should have got a new risk. So don't
you know, don't accept that, you know, get a second opinion,
(06:49):
get us out there, let us come and take a look.
There's no there's no cost. If it doesn't make sense,
it doesn't make sense. We're not going to force you
into do the claim. But at least if you you
have the peace of mind and knowing whether or not
you were treated fairly, that's that's you know, it means
a lot. Also, because you don't want to cut corners.
It's your house. You want to get into pre lost condition.
That's with anything, not just with roofs or or plumbing.
(07:09):
It's the same thing with you, STEVEE. You say you
had damage to the tile. Pre lost condition is matching
your tile. If you try to sell your house tomorrow
and you have mismatched tile, the guys can tell you
what are you talking about. I'm not paying this kind
of money for this house. Match it looks you know,
it's that's not the idea. The idea is to get
you back to where you were. That's why you pay
for an insurance. And having an expert that knows how
(07:31):
to navigate the insurance process, how to deal with them,
how to negotiate, is going to get you the value
that you need so you can get your house fixed
and have you know enough to do what needs to
be done.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Jason, you're here in South Florida, are you surprised how
many homeowners don't really know what's in their homeowner's policy.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Well, yeah, I'm not surprised because if you look at
your homeowner's policy, it's about it's one hundred and fifty
pages of the you know, language that nobody if you're
not familiar with it, you're not going to understand it.
You know, it's we're attorney, I mean, we're not attorneys,
we're public adjusters. We're reversed in damages and claims, so
we know how to read through a policy and what
each thing means and how to interpret things. Unfortunately, the
(08:13):
typical homeowner doesn't. It's you know, it's like going to
you know, getting your car fix. If you're not a mechanic,
you're not gonna be able to fix your car correctly. You
just don't have the knowledge. It's not your fault, just
you never learned it. So you know, rely on us,
rely on our expertise, and let us help you. That's
the goal.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Hip. You do so much work before you've realized your
first dime, don't you.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Oh? Absolutely. And there's times where I'll work a claim
for you know, a year, let's say, and the claim
gets denied and you know, I get nothing, and you know,
I wasted my time. But it's that's never really an
option because I don't consider it a way if a
claim gets denied, there's always options. But I'm saying is
you know, inevitably, there's no guarantee that I'm going to
get paid for putting all the efforts in. So I'm
(08:56):
taking a risk, you know, on any claim I take
that I'm going to get paid. So yeah, you know,
it could take months, it could take a year, it
could take anything. But yeah, we're We don't take any
money up front. We only charge a percentage of what
you actually get. So if you recover week benefit and
if we're not successful, then you know we're not getting
paid a dollar even though we've been current expenses, men, adjusters,
written estimates, traveled. You know, it's it is what it is.
(09:19):
But we don't just service South Florida. We're also servicing
Mid Florida, North Florida, anywhere in Florida. We're going to Tampa,
We're going to to Sarasota, We're going to the West coast,
we're going to Orlando. Kissing me even in the East
Coast now had damages from this last storm. Daytona, Melbourne, Pombay,
all these cities. So we're you know, our physical offices
is down south, but we we do service the entire
(09:41):
state of Florida. We can help anybody with any any
size claim that they have. They can give us a call.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
About four or five experts different areas that their show
is that are in Tampa. And well, they really got slammed,
didn't they.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Yeah they did. I mean I was over there and
it's not pretty what we see. But you know what,
they had a lot of flooding over there, a lot
of but there was a lot of wind. I think
people don't realize the extent of the wind damage until
later on, you know. So maybe they see that there's
some shingles missing and they say, oh, it's no big deal,
I'm not going to file a claim, and then in
a month from now when the heavy rains come and
(10:19):
the roof starts to leak, they don't know what to do,
you know. So if you have damage, if you're not
sure if it's worth claiming or not, give us a call.
We come out there. We'll tell you if it's worth it.
If it's over your to doctor Borne. Now we know
what's going to be paid. What's not? I mean, you know,
I have claims I've been to that look so simple
and then on the surface they end up being much
more than anybody ever expected. And you know they needed
(10:40):
to It costs them more than you know, what the
value would have they would have gone from the insurance.
So you know, why accept your initial offer? Why why
not make the claim thinking it's not worth at least
get somebody, an expert to look at.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
It and tell you, hey, look it's worth it or not.
You know, Jason, what I've learned about public insurance adjusters. Hey,
and I'm not trying to insult anybody, but basically a
person is crazy not to hire you because you're going.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
To be able. You know so much more about value
of damages than the normal person. And I learned that
with myself talking to friends doing other shows in other
parts of the country. I mean, you are so worth
your weight in gold.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
I appreciate that. Yeah, it's unfortunate though that not everybody
thinks that way. You know, people sometimes call their agent
when they have to make a claim and the agent
discourages them, says, no, don't call the public a notice,
call the insurance on your own, but I'll tell you
what happens a lot of times, and hurricanes are pretty obvious,
fires are pretty obvious. But when you're dealing with like
water losses right a leak in your kitchen or your
bathroom or something, anything you say to the insurance company
(11:53):
can be used against you. And if you don't know
how to present your claim to them, they can misinterpret
your damages and say, no, it's long term damage, wear
and tear, it's this, then deny your claim even before
you got to me. Why take that chance? Call me first,
let me evaluate and see. Don't be discouraged. You know,
and remember you're dealing with an insurance company whose job
is to collect premiums in exchange for a contract to
(12:16):
pay damages. If they don't pay you, they're the winner.
You're still paying the policy, but they're the winner at
the end of the day. Why take that risk. Have
somebody on your side and knows how to deal with
them and can help you recover what you're entitled to.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
We just got two texts. The first one is Rosemary
in Miami. She wants to know and you reopen a claim.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Absolutely, we can reopen a claim as long as you
haven't signed something saying that you agreed that this is
full and final. We can reopen it. You typically have
up to two years to reopen a claim. So if
you made a claim in the past and you're not
happy with it, give us a call. We'll come, we'll
reopen it. We'll take care of it for you.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Harold and Sarah soa once know. He said, you're absolutely right.
It's like a My policy is like a book. I'm
reading through it. I don't see what about mold and mildew?
Do policies handle that?
Speaker 4 (13:15):
So typical typical policies do have a limited coverage for mold.
It might be five or ten thousand, could be twenty
five thousand, But mold is normally handled on an incurred basis.
So if if there is mold, if the mold company
certifies that there's mold through an error sample, and they
prove that there's mold, then you could be entitled to
be reimbursed for the removal of the mold, depending on
what caused the mold, meaning like there had to have
(13:37):
been the loss that caused the mold to exists. If
you just walked in your house and dance on mold
and there's no cause, then that might be a cause
of question. But you know that's why you ask us.
We come, we value, We tell you yes, no, no,
no harm, no foul.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, it's if you don't take care of mold, it
can really get out of hand. What do you is?
What kind of question? I know you're getting calls from
probably the Tampa and Orlando where what kind of questions
do people have?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Well, you know, normally when when they're calling you know us,
you know they're they're asking us what what is covered
and what's not covered under their policy?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Right?
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Did they you know, we had to move out, we
had we had a higher a restoration company, we had
to tarp the roof. Are these things covered or not?
I mean that's that's the typical stuff that they would
they would ask, But you know it's it's all also asking,
you know, in terms of damage, is what they're entitled
to get paid for based on their their contract. You know,
people might have screening closures and there might be you know,
(14:38):
limited coverage for that, you know, and you know there's
there's different things that that can happen that your policy covers.
But every policy is unique to every house because every
house is unique. There's no two houses that are alike,
and no two policies that are like. So you might
have the same company as somebody else, but they might
have different endorsements that you don't have. So you know,
you can't judge, you know, on the whole. You got
(14:59):
to judge on yourself phone. So that's what we're here
to do.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
We had we had a called do you work with
community association boards?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Yes, we do. We do work on communication boards. We
do homeowner you know, we do claims for condos, for
apartment buildings and everything like that. You know, we've were
working at severl right now on the West Coast where
the roofs got damaged and you know we're representing the
association and the roof replacement as well as the drywall damages.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Hey, Jason, how about the dome there? They'll have all
the tiles they losched.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Yeah, I should call them up and see if they
need me.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
No, Luckily the people out of there. Luckily they moved
the people out before they before the storm. They were
going to put all the FPL and every workers over there,
and it wasn't rated for that you amount of wind
that they got.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
So yeah, I want to ask you something. I swear
I'm not getting political with I mean, we've got the
elections coming up in a week, but you know, I've
seen the devastation in North Carolina. It is horrendous. People
have died. What was your feeling when you heard FEMA
(16:12):
was giving seven hundred and fifty dollars to some people?
Not even everybody?
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Listen, it's uh, FEMA is there to help people that
don't have insurance, that don't have a way, that don't
have the means and stuff like that. I mean, seven
hundred and fifty dollars is not going to even replace
the food in the refrigerator for the people that love power.
It's you know, it's it's definitely problematic. But I listen,
when you're dealing with government, no matter what side of
(16:40):
the isle you're on, there's money involved, and yeah, there's
there's budgets for certain things. And unfortunately, you know, when
people are elected, they make decisions based on, you know,
what they feel is right at the time and what
they have in front of them. So I can't comment
as to whether or not I feel it's the right
thing or not. But I don't feel that seven hundred
(17:02):
and fifty dollars would be enough money to do anything,
you know, for anybody that has damage on the property.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
No, that's actually the answer I was looking for because
it's not happening.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's just it's so ridiculous. And not everybody is getting
that either, because I've we do a show in Charlotte.
Not everyone is getting that and people who've lost their homes.
So now, if I call you up and I want
you to represent me, how does it work?
Speaker 4 (17:31):
So typically when you call me up, you know, ask
some basic intake questions in terms of what where you're
located with your insurance is, what kind of damages you have,
and then we'll schedule a free inspection at your property
so then I can come look at the damages, look
at your policy and see, you know, what's damage, what's covered,
and then at that point we can discuss, you know,
whether or not it makes sense to make a claim.
(17:51):
If you decide to hire me to make the claim,
I will reach out to the insurance company, set up
an appointment to meet with them.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
There, you know, we'll go meet.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
With I will write an estimate and then basically, you know,
the negotiations that everything happened in the back office and we,
you know, work for you and fight for you.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Jason, You've got a lot of experience. You have seen
probably just about everything you could possibly see. I think
the great part about hiring your company is you have
a good idea of what you can get and I
know and you probably gosh, I'm sure dealing with these
(18:30):
insurance companies, they've got some of the best negotiators out
there that you go up against every day. But it
just seems like when you tell someone something that you
feel like you can get them maybe if it doesn't happen,
even but you've got the experience, you've seen.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
It all absolutely. So I don't normally talk numbers when
I go to some contracts because I don't want anybody
to ever hire me on a number, because that's not
the deal. A lot of adjusts will come. Yeah, I'll
get you fifty thousands in here, and then they get
twenty and then they're upset, and I don't want to
do that. But what I do typically do is say, look,
this is the scope of damage as we're looking at.
If we can agree to this scope, and you can
(19:10):
expect this kind of money for this kind of damages,
but you know, the scope is there's interpretations. Meaning let's
say you have a kitchen damage and there's a leak
underneath the sink and you have granted countertops. The insurance
company wants to pay you to detach the granite and
put it back. I'm asking to replace it. If I
get them to replace it, the money's going to be
a lot more than if they didn't replace it. So
(19:30):
there's certain parts of a claim where the value can
change significantly from one part to the next. You might
have a broken pipe underneath your floor, and the method
to repair is to replace the tile and dig the
floor and change the pipe. But then again the insurance
might say that they have somebody that can reroute the
pipe and not so that always can make a difference
on what the values are. But remember one thing. The
(19:51):
insurance company sends adjustice to your house. A lot of
those adjusters that come to your house are independent. They
don't have a say, they don't make the call. They
send this stuff to the guy who's sitting at the desk,
and the guys staying at the desk decides what he
wants to do. When the guys sitting out the desk
decides what he wants to do. Then there's options, there's
provisions in the policies, there's tools we can use to
fight them, regardless of whether they want to negotiate or not.
(20:12):
There are things in the policy that we can use
invoke certain aspects that can get them to the table
and make them pay and make them pay much more
than what they paid initially. And we know what those
are and where they're to help and get you as
much as possible.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Okay, So what are some of the common misconceptions about
public adjusters.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Well, you know, people think that we're not needed, that
the insurance company is going to do right by them
and they're going to get everything, and why pay a
percentage to adjuster. You're going to have no money. They're
taking all your money. But I can tell you this,
in my twenty five years of doing business, okay, on
my successful cases, I can't remember the time that the
client told me I didn't have enough money to do
(20:51):
the job, even after paying me. Because when it comes
down to it, you get the money in your hands,
you hire the people you want to do the work with,
and you're going to the guy that's going to do
it at the best price. Also, so I'm going to
get you the cream of the crop price, the top
price for the to fix the stuff. And you're gonna
find whoever you're gonna find and work it out that
way and then you with enough money to do everything
(21:11):
you need to do. So that's the that's the idea
here is to get you your house fixed.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Okay, I'm gonna ask your final question is tell me
why I should hire you.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Well, I have a claim. Look us up. Okay, we're
a plus and the Better Business Bureau. Look at our
five star ratings on Google. Go from experience. We'll give
references of clients we've dealt with. Ask around, see who
we are. Seriot O reputation is we don't treat every
claim like it's our only claim. We treat every client
(21:45):
like they're important. We don't you know, we don't embellish
claims for to better our pockets. We're looking out for
the best interests of the homeowner at all times. We
have a very good reputation with the insurance company and
that's why they typically negotiate with us and accept it.
And they know when they're getting a claimed with p ACC,
they're getting an honest company that's going to come and
work for the clients, and you know, not gouge either,
(22:07):
because it's not my business. I'm not a gouger. I'm
here to get you what's fair and to get you
enough to do what needs to be done. And for that,
I have a good reputation with the insurance company and
that's the reason why we've been successful and been to
business for twenty five years. And we want to be
there to help you.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Jason, I you are. You can tell that you know
what you're doing and you know what somebody should feel
so comfortable with your company. Let's give everybody you're the
ones you're listening on righty on podcasts. Let's give them
your phone number and your website.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Okay, So my phone number is three oh five five
two five two nine zero three. That's three oh five
five two five two nine zero three. The website is
going to be www. P I c c f l
A like Florida dot com. So www dot p I
(22:59):
c f l A dot com and you can see
all about us. The number I gave out is my
cell phone. You reached, you speak to me directly, and
I'm happy to answer any questions and help you, you know,
with any damages.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
You may have you know, and also I want people
also know if you've got a friend who's had damages
and let's just say from the hurricane, since it's so recent.
Even though Jason's company handles other claims, tell them about
Jason's company, give them the phone number. You can also
(23:33):
go back to iHeart and see the show again, but
tell them because like I said, it doesn't cost you
anything to get started. Jason. We want to thank you
so much, Jason. We'll be back again with us next
month with more SC experts.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Thank you, Jason, Thank you, good day.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
That's Jason SOAKA, what a great guy. If you've got
to claim listen, doesn't cost you anything up front, and
they work off a percentage of what they get you.
We're going to go to break. We'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Thanks for tuning in today to the Ask the Expert
Show on W FOURCY Radio and Talk for TV. Tune
in next week and every week to hear more from
our experts on personal injury, insurance, air condition repairs, estate planning, medicare,
and many other topics in the areas of legal, health,
(24:31):
financial and home improvement. See you next week.
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(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to the Ask the Experts Show on W four
CY Radio and Talkboard TV, where we bring you educational
information from top local experts in the fields of legal, health,
financial and home improvement. Now sit back and listen to
experts in family law, association, law, hearing, laws, business brokers,
(00:47):
home care, along with many other topics. Now Here are
your hosts, Stevo and Sophia.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Hey, good morning, Florida. Welcome to another Asked Experts show.
So I love doing this show because I am My
home base is Florida, and this is our Florida market,
and I got to tell you I'm in the southeast
part of Florida and we have been sort of spared.
(01:17):
We ended up with a lot of tornadoes, but Southwest
Florida has been hit twice. All of our experts that
do shows with us in Tampa and Orlando had damages.
So this is the greatest show to do because we
are in hurricane season and today I read from a
(01:41):
meteorologist that they're saying hurricane season could go into December
this year. It's normally over at the end of November.
And he said there's a good possibility the southeast part
of Florida is going to be hit. And you know,
you wrote us saying we understand there are public insurance
(02:06):
adjusters out there and with all the homeowners we have,
this is the perfect show. Let me introduce you to
our great expert, Jason Soka. Hi, Jason, good morning.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
How are you today?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Good? I bet you didn't read what I read this morning.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
I didn't. I didn't have time to read anything with
all this you're so busy. Yeah, it's been very busy.
We're trying to help out, you know, the community that
a lot of people are suffering. I have a lot
of damage.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Unfortunately, they said hurt. They said the season is going
to go and do December this year, and that the
southeast has a good part and even explained why that
the southeast where you and I are is going to
get hit this year. So we're gonna pray and keep
(02:55):
our fingers crossed so that doesn't happen. Jason, tell us
your companies is people's insurance claim center. Tell people about
your company.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
So you know, here at PACC, we've been in business
for nearly twenty five years, you know, servicing, you know,
as a public adjuster. For those of you who don't
know what a public adjuster is, we're basically the middleman
between you and the insurance company to make sure that
your insurance company pays enough and covers your loss after
something happened. So it's not just limited to hurricanes. It
could be fire, flooding, plumbing issues, air conditioning links, there's
(03:29):
there's a number of things that can happen in your
house that you may be qualified to make a claim for.
And you know here at PACC, you know, since we
have twenty five years experience, we've worked multiple claims, you know,
hurricanes in the past twenty five years. We've worked in
two thousand and four, there was you know, Hurricane Katrina,
and in two thousand and five we had Wilma, and
(03:51):
you know, we had we had a nice time off
and then then you know, IRMA came in twenty seventeen,
and Ian came in in twenty twenty two and so on.
So well, we have the experience. We can deal with
any size claim, whether it's a small residential or a
large commercial. You know, we're dealing with the you know,
charter schools, with the office buildings of homeowners associations. I mean,
you name it, we can handle it. We have the
(04:13):
you know, the team behind us that knows how to
deal with these claims effectively and ensure that you know,
you get the most out of your claim.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
You know, most people, the common man does not know
the value. And the reason why I say that is
when I lived in Texas and of course we got
hurricanes down in Texas, I had flooding, and they may
be an offer, and what do I know what things
(04:43):
are worth, but it didn't seem right to me. And
a friend of mine said, you need to get a
public adjuster. And the things that I learned from that Jason,
that how can someone not get a public adjuster? Because
it was I mean, I got so much more money
(05:03):
with a public adjuster than I got on my own.
I mean just small things like they wanted to replace
different tile, but it would not have matched because a
tile I had no longer existed and they were trying
to cut corners. So it is so important what you do, Jason.
(05:24):
And also break ins too, right.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Yeah, anything robbery, I mean, we deal with it all.
But you know, listen, it's important to hire public adjustin.
You know, these days you see a lot of lawyers
now advertising that they do claims and they act. First
of all, I'll tell you about the lawyers. The lawyers
are going to take between thirty three and forty percent
to do the same thing the public adjuster is going
to do for between ten and twenty percent. So and
(05:47):
typically these lawyers are hiring the public adjustice to work
under them. So you're basically paying more and you're getting
the same thing. Why pay more? Come directly to the
public adjuster. Fight with us first, let us help you,
let us deal with it. Now. Look, if we get
into a situation where a claim is denied and they're
not covering it and your only option is to go legal,
then you know, certainly that's something that's important that I
would recommend that you do. But you know, in the
(06:08):
initial steps of it, call us, let us come out there,
let us take a look at it. There's no charge
charge for us to come. We work on a percentage.
We give a free consultation and you know, we can
help you specifically now with the hurricane. You know a
lot of people now the hurricane happened, you know, October ninth,
you know, Milton, and then before that it was it
was Hellen and September twenty sixth, I believe was the date,
(06:29):
and people got flooding, wind damage everything. A lot of
people are just scurrying and running to call their insurance
companies and get them out there, and their adjusters are
coming and they're they're starting to see their estimates. Now,
you know, a few weeks later and they're realizing, wow,
you know what, they might have twenty shingles missing off
the roof. They got paid for, you know, a patch
when they should have got a new risk. So don't
you know, don't accept that, you know, get a second opinion,
(06:49):
get us out there, let us come and take a look.
There's no there's no cost. If it doesn't make sense,
it doesn't make sense. We're not going to force you
into do the claim. But at least if you you
have the peace of mind and knowing whether or not
you were treated fairly, that's that's you know, it means
a lot. Also, because you don't want to cut corners.
It's your house. You want to get into pre lost condition.
That's with anything, not just with roofs or or plumbing.
(07:09):
It's the same thing with you, STEVEE. You say you
had damage to the tile. Pre lost condition is matching
your tile. If you try to sell your house tomorrow
and you have mismatched tile, the guys can tell you
what are you talking about. I'm not paying this kind
of money for this house. Match it looks you know,
it's that's not the idea. The idea is to get
you back to where you were. That's why you pay
for an insurance. And having an expert that knows how
(07:31):
to navigate the insurance process, how to deal with them,
how to negotiate, is going to get you the value
that you need so you can get your house fixed
and have you know enough to do what needs to
be done.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Jason, you're here in South Florida, are you surprised how
many homeowners don't really know what's in their homeowner's policy.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Well, yeah, I'm not surprised because if you look at
your homeowner's policy, it's about it's one hundred and fifty
pages of the you know, language that nobody if you're
not familiar with it, you're not going to understand it.
You know, it's we're attorney, I mean, we're not attorneys,
we're public adjusters. We're reversed in damages and claims, so
we know how to read through a policy and what
each thing means and how to interpret things. Unfortunately, the
(08:13):
typical homeowner doesn't. It's you know, it's like going to
you know, getting your car fix. If you're not a mechanic,
you're not gonna be able to fix your car correctly. You
just don't have the knowledge. It's not your fault, just
you never learned it. So you know, rely on us,
rely on our expertise, and let us help you. That's
the goal.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Hip. You do so much work before you've realized your
first dime, don't you.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Oh? Absolutely. And there's times where I'll work a claim
for you know, a year, let's say, and the claim
gets denied and you know, I get nothing, and you know,
I wasted my time. But it's that's never really an
option because I don't consider it a way if a
claim gets denied, there's always options. But I'm saying is
you know, inevitably, there's no guarantee that I'm going to
get paid for putting all the efforts in. So I'm
(08:56):
taking a risk, you know, on any claim I take
that I'm going to get paid. So yeah, you know,
it could take months, it could take a year, it
could take anything. But yeah, we're We don't take any
money up front. We only charge a percentage of what
you actually get. So if you recover week benefit and
if we're not successful, then you know we're not getting
paid a dollar even though we've been current expenses, men, adjusters,
written estimates, traveled. You know, it's it is what it is.
(09:19):
But we don't just service South Florida. We're also servicing
Mid Florida, North Florida, anywhere in Florida. We're going to Tampa,
We're going to to Sarasota, We're going to the West coast,
we're going to Orlando. Kissing me even in the East
Coast now had damages from this last storm. Daytona, Melbourne, Pombay,
all these cities. So we're you know, our physical offices
is down south, but we we do service the entire
(09:41):
state of Florida. We can help anybody with any any
size claim that they have. They can give us a call.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
About four or five experts different areas that their show
is that are in Tampa. And well, they really got slammed,
didn't they.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Yeah they did. I mean I was over there and
it's not pretty what we see. But you know what,
they had a lot of flooding over there, a lot
of but there was a lot of wind. I think
people don't realize the extent of the wind damage until
later on, you know. So maybe they see that there's
some shingles missing and they say, oh, it's no big deal,
I'm not going to file a claim, and then in
a month from now when the heavy rains come and
(10:19):
the roof starts to leak, they don't know what to do,
you know. So if you have damage, if you're not
sure if it's worth claiming or not, give us a call.
We come out there. We'll tell you if it's worth it.
If it's over your to doctor Borne. Now we know
what's going to be paid. What's not? I mean, you know,
I have claims I've been to that look so simple
and then on the surface they end up being much
more than anybody ever expected. And you know they needed
(10:40):
to It costs them more than you know, what the
value would have they would have gone from the insurance.
So you know, why accept your initial offer? Why why
not make the claim thinking it's not worth at least
get somebody, an expert to look at.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
It and tell you, hey, look it's worth it or not.
You know, Jason, what I've learned about public insurance adjusters. Hey,
and I'm not trying to insult anybody, but basically a
person is crazy not to hire you because you're going.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
To be able. You know so much more about value
of damages than the normal person. And I learned that
with myself talking to friends doing other shows in other
parts of the country. I mean, you are so worth
your weight in gold.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
I appreciate that. Yeah, it's unfortunate though that not everybody
thinks that way. You know, people sometimes call their agent
when they have to make a claim and the agent
discourages them, says, no, don't call the public a notice,
call the insurance on your own, but I'll tell you
what happens a lot of times, and hurricanes are pretty obvious,
fires are pretty obvious. But when you're dealing with like
water losses right a leak in your kitchen or your
bathroom or something, anything you say to the insurance company
(11:53):
can be used against you. And if you don't know
how to present your claim to them, they can misinterpret
your damages and say, no, it's long term damage, wear
and tear, it's this, then deny your claim even before
you got to me. Why take that chance? Call me first,
let me evaluate and see. Don't be discouraged. You know,
and remember you're dealing with an insurance company whose job
is to collect premiums in exchange for a contract to
(12:16):
pay damages. If they don't pay you, they're the winner.
You're still paying the policy, but they're the winner at
the end of the day. Why take that risk. Have
somebody on your side and knows how to deal with
them and can help you recover what you're entitled to.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
We just got two texts. The first one is Rosemary
in Miami. She wants to know and you reopen a claim.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Absolutely, we can reopen a claim as long as you
haven't signed something saying that you agreed that this is
full and final. We can reopen it. You typically have
up to two years to reopen a claim. So if
you made a claim in the past and you're not
happy with it, give us a call. We'll come, we'll
reopen it. We'll take care of it for you.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Harold and Sarah soa once know. He said, you're absolutely right.
It's like a My policy is like a book. I'm
reading through it. I don't see what about mold and mildew?
Do policies handle that?
Speaker 4 (13:15):
So typical typical policies do have a limited coverage for mold.
It might be five or ten thousand, could be twenty
five thousand, But mold is normally handled on an incurred basis.
So if if there is mold, if the mold company
certifies that there's mold through an error sample, and they
prove that there's mold, then you could be entitled to
be reimbursed for the removal of the mold, depending on
what caused the mold, meaning like there had to have
(13:37):
been the loss that caused the mold to exists. If
you just walked in your house and dance on mold
and there's no cause, then that might be a cause
of question. But you know that's why you ask us.
We come, we value, We tell you yes, no, no,
no harm, no foul.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, it's if you don't take care of mold, it
can really get out of hand. What do you is?
What kind of question? I know you're getting calls from
probably the Tampa and Orlando where what kind of questions
do people have?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Well, you know, normally when when they're calling you know us,
you know they're they're asking us what what is covered
and what's not covered under their policy?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Right?
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Did they you know, we had to move out, we
had we had a higher a restoration company, we had
to tarp the roof. Are these things covered or not?
I mean that's that's the typical stuff that they would
they would ask, But you know it's it's all also asking,
you know, in terms of damage, is what they're entitled
to get paid for based on their their contract. You know,
people might have screening closures and there might be you know,
(14:38):
limited coverage for that, you know, and you know there's
there's different things that that can happen that your policy covers.
But every policy is unique to every house because every
house is unique. There's no two houses that are alike,
and no two policies that are like. So you might
have the same company as somebody else, but they might
have different endorsements that you don't have. So you know,
you can't judge, you know, on the whole. You got
(14:59):
to judge on yourself phone. So that's what we're here
to do.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
We had we had a called do you work with
community association boards?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Yes, we do. We do work on communication boards. We
do homeowner you know, we do claims for condos, for
apartment buildings and everything like that. You know, we've were
working at severl right now on the West Coast where
the roofs got damaged and you know we're representing the
association and the roof replacement as well as the drywall damages.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Hey, Jason, how about the dome there? They'll have all
the tiles they losched.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Yeah, I should call them up and see if they
need me.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
No, Luckily the people out of there. Luckily they moved
the people out before they before the storm. They were
going to put all the FPL and every workers over there,
and it wasn't rated for that you amount of wind
that they got.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
So yeah, I want to ask you something. I swear
I'm not getting political with I mean, we've got the
elections coming up in a week, but you know, I've
seen the devastation in North Carolina. It is horrendous. People
have died. What was your feeling when you heard FEMA
(16:12):
was giving seven hundred and fifty dollars to some people?
Not even everybody?
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Listen, it's uh, FEMA is there to help people that
don't have insurance, that don't have a way, that don't
have the means and stuff like that. I mean, seven
hundred and fifty dollars is not going to even replace
the food in the refrigerator for the people that love power.
It's you know, it's it's definitely problematic. But I listen,
when you're dealing with government, no matter what side of
(16:40):
the isle you're on, there's money involved, and yeah, there's
there's budgets for certain things. And unfortunately, you know, when
people are elected, they make decisions based on, you know,
what they feel is right at the time and what
they have in front of them. So I can't comment
as to whether or not I feel it's the right
thing or not. But I don't feel that seven hundred
(17:02):
and fifty dollars would be enough money to do anything,
you know, for anybody that has damage on the property.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
No, that's actually the answer I was looking for because
it's not happening.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's just it's so ridiculous. And not everybody is getting
that either, because I've we do a show in Charlotte.
Not everyone is getting that and people who've lost their homes.
So now, if I call you up and I want
you to represent me, how does it work?
Speaker 4 (17:31):
So typically when you call me up, you know, ask
some basic intake questions in terms of what where you're
located with your insurance is, what kind of damages you have,
and then we'll schedule a free inspection at your property
so then I can come look at the damages, look
at your policy and see, you know, what's damage, what's covered,
and then at that point we can discuss, you know,
whether or not it makes sense to make a claim.
(17:51):
If you decide to hire me to make the claim,
I will reach out to the insurance company, set up
an appointment to meet with them.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
There, you know, we'll go meet.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
With I will write an estimate and then basically, you know,
the negotiations that everything happened in the back office and we,
you know, work for you and fight for you.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Jason, You've got a lot of experience. You have seen
probably just about everything you could possibly see. I think
the great part about hiring your company is you have
a good idea of what you can get and I
know and you probably gosh, I'm sure dealing with these
(18:30):
insurance companies, they've got some of the best negotiators out
there that you go up against every day. But it
just seems like when you tell someone something that you
feel like you can get them maybe if it doesn't happen,
even but you've got the experience, you've seen.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
It all absolutely. So I don't normally talk numbers when
I go to some contracts because I don't want anybody
to ever hire me on a number, because that's not
the deal. A lot of adjusts will come. Yeah, I'll
get you fifty thousands in here, and then they get
twenty and then they're upset, and I don't want to
do that. But what I do typically do is say, look,
this is the scope of damage as we're looking at.
If we can agree to this scope, and you can
(19:10):
expect this kind of money for this kind of damages,
but you know, the scope is there's interpretations. Meaning let's
say you have a kitchen damage and there's a leak
underneath the sink and you have granted countertops. The insurance
company wants to pay you to detach the granite and
put it back. I'm asking to replace it. If I
get them to replace it, the money's going to be
a lot more than if they didn't replace it. So
(19:30):
there's certain parts of a claim where the value can
change significantly from one part to the next. You might
have a broken pipe underneath your floor, and the method
to repair is to replace the tile and dig the
floor and change the pipe. But then again the insurance
might say that they have somebody that can reroute the
pipe and not so that always can make a difference
on what the values are. But remember one thing. The
(19:51):
insurance company sends adjustice to your house. A lot of
those adjusters that come to your house are independent. They
don't have a say, they don't make the call. They
send this stuff to the guy who's sitting at the desk,
and the guys staying at the desk decides what he
wants to do. When the guys sitting out the desk
decides what he wants to do. Then there's options, there's
provisions in the policies, there's tools we can use to
fight them, regardless of whether they want to negotiate or not.
(20:12):
There are things in the policy that we can use
invoke certain aspects that can get them to the table
and make them pay and make them pay much more
than what they paid initially. And we know what those
are and where they're to help and get you as
much as possible.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Okay, So what are some of the common misconceptions about
public adjusters.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Well, you know, people think that we're not needed, that
the insurance company is going to do right by them
and they're going to get everything, and why pay a
percentage to adjuster. You're going to have no money. They're
taking all your money. But I can tell you this,
in my twenty five years of doing business, okay, on
my successful cases, I can't remember the time that the
client told me I didn't have enough money to do
(20:51):
the job, even after paying me. Because when it comes
down to it, you get the money in your hands,
you hire the people you want to do the work with,
and you're going to the guy that's going to do
it at the best price. Also, so I'm going to
get you the cream of the crop price, the top
price for the to fix the stuff. And you're gonna
find whoever you're gonna find and work it out that
way and then you with enough money to do everything
(21:11):
you need to do. So that's the that's the idea
here is to get you your house fixed.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Okay, I'm gonna ask your final question is tell me
why I should hire you.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Well, I have a claim. Look us up. Okay, we're
a plus and the Better Business Bureau. Look at our
five star ratings on Google. Go from experience. We'll give
references of clients we've dealt with. Ask around, see who
we are. Seriot O reputation is we don't treat every
claim like it's our only claim. We treat every client
(21:45):
like they're important. We don't you know, we don't embellish
claims for to better our pockets. We're looking out for
the best interests of the homeowner at all times. We
have a very good reputation with the insurance company and
that's why they typically negotiate with us and accept it.
And they know when they're getting a claimed with p ACC,
they're getting an honest company that's going to come and
work for the clients, and you know, not gouge either,
(22:07):
because it's not my business. I'm not a gouger. I'm
here to get you what's fair and to get you
enough to do what needs to be done. And for that,
I have a good reputation with the insurance company and
that's the reason why we've been successful and been to
business for twenty five years. And we want to be
there to help you.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Jason, I you are. You can tell that you know
what you're doing and you know what somebody should feel
so comfortable with your company. Let's give everybody you're the
ones you're listening on righty on podcasts. Let's give them
your phone number and your website.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Okay, So my phone number is three oh five five
two five two nine zero three. That's three oh five
five two five two nine zero three. The website is
going to be www. P I c c f l
A like Florida dot com. So www dot p I
(22:59):
c f l A dot com and you can see
all about us. The number I gave out is my
cell phone. You reached, you speak to me directly, and
I'm happy to answer any questions and help you, you know,
with any damages.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
You may have you know, and also I want people
also know if you've got a friend who's had damages
and let's just say from the hurricane, since it's so recent.
Even though Jason's company handles other claims, tell them about
Jason's company, give them the phone number. You can also
(23:33):
go back to iHeart and see the show again, but
tell them because like I said, it doesn't cost you
anything to get started. Jason. We want to thank you
so much, Jason. We'll be back again with us next
month with more SC experts.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Thank you, Jason, Thank you, good day.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
That's Jason SOAKA, what a great guy. If you've got
to claim listen, doesn't cost you anything up front, and
they work off a percentage of what they get you.
We're going to go to break. We'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Thanks for tuning in today to the Ask the Expert
Show on W FOURCY Radio and Talk for TV. Tune
in next week and every week to hear more from
our experts on personal injury, insurance, air condition repairs, estate planning, medicare,
and many other topics in the areas of legal, health,
(24:31):
financial and home improvement. See you next week.
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