Following the 2004-2005 Florida hurricane season, two major events occurred. First, the number of Florida public adjusters, both residents and nonresidents, grew substantially. Second, established public adjusting firms worried that their market share would be diluted by increased competition.
Following a lobbying effort by FAPIA (Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters), changes were made to the licensing laws for public adjusters. In addition, new laws related to customer contact, fees and contracts were also approved. The intended effect of the laws was to protect the public and protect the market share of established public adjusting firms.
Some of these changes took effect on October 1, 2008. Additional changes related to an apprenticeship will take effect on January 1, 2009.
CONTACT WITH THE CLIENT
Public adjusters are prohibited from contacting an insured or claimant until 48 hours after an event occurs that may be the subject of a claim under a policy;
Public adjusters cannot solicit an insured or claimant except Monday through Saturday and only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
fairies
A public adjuster may not charge a fee unless a written contract is executed prior to payment of a claim;
Public adjusters are prohibited from collecting more than 20 percent of the insurance claim payout on non-hurricane claims and 10 percent of the insurance claim payout on hurricane claims for claims made during the first year after declaration of emergency. These rate caps apply only to residential property insurance policies and condominium association policies as defined in s. 718,111(11);
There is no rate limit on supplemental or reopened hurricane claims; however, the rate cannot be based on any payment made by the insurer to the insured prior to the time of the public adjuster contract.
CONTRACT
Policyholders or claimants will have 5 business days from contract execution to cancel a public adjuster contract during a state of emergency declared by the Governor; policyholders or claimants have 3 business days to cancel a contract for non-emergency claims;
Public adjuster contracts must be in writing and must display an anti-fraud statement.
