Independent Adjuster (IA)
Also called: IA, contract adjuster, cat adjuster
Independent Adjuster is an adjuster contracted by a carrier rather than employed by it, brought in when claim volume exceeds internal capacity. They work for the carrier and represent its interests, despite the word independent, and they handle a large share of claims after a major storm.
What it means
An independent adjuster is a licensed adjuster who works on contract rather than as an employee of a carrier. Carriers use them to absorb volume they cannot handle internally, which in practice means storms. After a significant hail or wind event a large share of the inspections in the affected area are carried out by contracted adjusters brought in for the surge.
The word independent describes the employment arrangement and nothing else. They are engaged by the carrier, paid by the carrier, and adjusting the claim on the carrier’s behalf.
Why homeowners misread the name
Because it sounds like neutrality, and a homeowner who believes the inspector is a neutral third party behaves differently from one who understands the arrangement.
It is worth being straightforward about this without being cynical. Independent adjusters are licensed professionals with obligations, and most of them do the job carefully. But they are not the homeowner’s representative and they are not an impartial referee. The person retained by the policyholder is a public adjuster, which is an entirely different role.
What it changes on a storm claim
A few practical things.
Catastrophe deployment means the adjuster may be from out of the area, working an unfamiliar market and an unfamiliar building stock. Local practice and local code familiarity cannot be assumed, which occasionally matters on scope items.
Rotas are heavy and schedules are tight. The inspection may be shorter than a homeowner expects and the adjuster may be difficult to reach afterwards, because they have moved on to the next block of appointments or the next deployment entirely.
Continuity can suffer. The adjuster who inspected may have no further involvement with the file, so anything agreed verbally on the roof and not written down can simply evaporate.
All of which points the same way: the inspection is the moment. Evidence shown then, and documented then, is worth far more than a follow-up call to a phone that is now in another state.
Common mistakes
Treating an independent adjuster as an advocate is the main one, and it leads homeowners to disclose or concede things they would not otherwise.
The second is assuming they will be available later. Frequently they will not.
The third is over-reading the distinction. Independent or staff, the inspection is conducted the same way and the scope is written the same way, and preparing well for it is the response that works in either case.
On the call
After a big event most inspections are carried out by contract adjusters working a heavy rota, often from out of state. That does not change what the homeowner should do, but it does mean scheduling is tighter and the adjuster may not be reachable afterwards, so anything that needs saying is best said at the inspection.
This is how our agents handle it on storm appointment calls and day-to-day roofing answering service intake.
Questions people ask about independent adjuster
- Does independent mean neutral?
- No, and the name misleads a lot of homeowners. An independent adjuster is independent of the carrier as an employer, not independent of its interests. They are engaged and paid by the carrier and adjust the claim on its behalf, exactly as a staff adjuster would.
- How is an independent adjuster different from a public adjuster?
- They sit on opposite sides. An independent adjuster is retained by the insurance company. A public adjuster is retained by the policyholder to represent them against the insurance company, and is typically paid a percentage of the settlement.
- Why did an out-of-state adjuster inspect the roof?
- Because catastrophe deployment moves adjusters to wherever the event happened. After a major storm carriers draw on contract adjusters from across the country to work the surge, so the person inspecting may be unfamiliar with local building practice, which is worth bearing in mind at the inspection.
Back to the full roofing claims glossary.