Due to the high volume of claims from the storm that damaged our home, our insurance company had to hire outside adjusters on a contract basis, which is pretty normal. The one that came to our house gave an extraordinarily low estimate, and the claims representative at corporate closed the case before I even got the estimate in the mail. To say that I was angered was an understatement. I went to my own agent’s office, explained that I was not happy with her service. She listened to me, re-opened our claim, and made an appointment for a senior adjuster that works directly with the company to come out. His estimate was that we DID need a new roof. He was apologetic about the extra time and hassle, then he explained to me that some adjusters will go to extraordinary lengths in order to keep a claim under the deductible, because if they consistently give estimates that cost the insurance company money, the company will stop using them. Then they starve.

Since I got this info from an adjuster, I tend to credit it with some gravitas.

The only time I ever had damage to a car was when a co-worker’s car mysteriously rolled into mine in our parking lot and scraped some paint off. He was so grateful I didn’t file a claim I got a year’s worth of cat toys out of it.

Now, that’s what I call a fine settlement.