Helpful Supplies for Hurricane Claims

With hurricane season roughly 3 days away it is important to keep your bags packed and to call your dispatcher ASAP; so your adjusting firm has your current availability status.  If you do get called out, be prepared to sleep in your vehicle for a few days!  I spent 5 days in my truck for Super-storm Sandy...  Lots of homeowners and utility companies will be occupying every single hotel room you can find, so bring some blankets and other necessary supplies to prepare for the possibility of being "homeless" for a few days/weeks.

• Baby wipes: If you are not going to have a hotel room for awhile, bring some baby-wipes so you can take a bum shower at the gas station. While it may not sound very glorious, it'll make you feel a little bit more comfortable.


• Bring extra gas: If there is a gas shortage, you may find yourself in the weeds.  Bring a few extra gallons of gas with you before you head out!


• Buy a lock for your supplies!  There were a lot of adjusters involved in Sandy who had their trucks broken into and other supplies stolen.  Gas shortage was so bad that adjuster vehicles were having their gas tanks siphoned!  Buy a bike-lock to secure your belongings and a tarp to hide everything as best as you can!

Also, this thing is pretty neat too!  I would be jealous if I saw you on a storm-site with this...



They also make a version of this tent for SUV's.  Full sized air mattresses for truck beds are available too!

How to set yourself apart from other adjusters

So its a few weeks into your storm deployment.  You are all caught up on your contacts.  You are scheduled out at-least 3 weeks.  You've settled and closed a few dozen claims.  Now what?  It feels good to finally catch your breath and relax, right?  While it is healthy to give yourself a breather; now couldn't be a more important/crucial point for your deployment!

Some of you may start to feel like you are over that hill and that things are easing up.  While this may be true, the one thing you need to remember is to stay on your game!  This is the point in the storm where you can greatly differentiate yourself from the other adjusters on-site.  This could buy you more time deployed on storm if you handle everything right!  By now you should be receiving return phone calls from homeowners you have already inspected.  Make it a goal to respond to these people within 24 hours!  Agents and homeowners often complain about their adjuster's lengthy response time for voice messages.  They don't always understand how busy we are... Do your managers a favor and respond before these complaints reach them!

You may also be overhearing word of potential HOT claims in the office.  These are usually homeowners that are upset because another adjuster may be 3 weeks or further out on their schedule.  While it is impossible to make "everyone" happy, you could earn a few brownie points by making room in your schedule to take a HOT claim off of your manager's hands.  However, don't reschedule someone just to make an impatient homeowner happy.  You owe it to your homeowners to keep your word with your appointments.  Make yourself known and tell your manager that you would be willing to take an extra claim or two to help out.  Don't do this if you do not feel comfortable taking on extra work!  If you are absolutely booked solid, its okay to turn down a few claims.  Remember, you still need to keep a high standard of quality on all of your claim files.  Don't do anything that would hinder your best performance!

I'm not telling you to be a pest while your in the office.  After-all, nobody likes a brown nose...  Approach everything from a genuine, realistic perspective.  Don't be a stranger!  Face time is one of the most important things you could do for your career!  Make yourself known to your peers!  You are just a name on a roster unless others can associate your face to that name.  It is common sense for higher-ups to keep the claim handlers they know, and even more common sense to keep the claim handlers that are willing to go an extra mile to lend a helping hand!