Any of you have experience in this field? I've been thinking about moving from teaching and there's an opportunity.

My dad was a property adjuster for years. You may be able to get a local job with a big company, but be prepared to be a catastrophe adjuster and go wherever the storms are. That's what he did. He did well most years, but when it's slow you don't have any income.

He typically worked for a third party that had a contract with USAA. After Hurricane Katrina he was making $25k/week while staying at our home in Grapevine, but that was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.

My dad enjoyed it. He liked being able to help people after a horrible storm. He would stay places 30 days to six months. You never know how long it will be, the claims just stop coming in one day.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

So he only had income when he was out working a catastrophic event? I'm trying to understand that one. I was thinking of working with one of the big 3.

I have experience at State Farm....is that where you have the opportunity?

GigEm04 said:

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I have experience at State Farm....is that where you have the opportunity?

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Travelers. How long have you worked in field property claims?

13 years in. First 5 as staff for Farmers and last 7 as an independent. I work for a firm that handles 90% daily claims with the occasional catastrophe. $30k per week during a Cat is doable but you have to be experienced and that's working 7 days a week at 16 hour days away from home. You can work daily claims remotely from home and break six figures with 5-10 yrs experience. Ton of turnover in this industry at less than 3 years.

I've never done property but I handled liability claims at Travelers in Dallas before I switched to underwriting. I don't work for the company but if that's where you're applying dropping my name might help you.

I knew the guys who run that department pretty well while I was there.

Cadet05 said:

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13 years in. First 5 as staff for Farmers and last 7 as an independent. I work for a firm that handles 90% daily claims with the occasional catastrophe. $30k per week during a Cat is doable but you have to be experienced and that's working 7 days a week at 16 hour days away from home. You can work daily claims remotely from home and break six figures with 5-10 yrs experience. Ton of turnover in this industry at less than 3 years.

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Why is there a ton of turnover?

BoilerAg10 said:

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I've never done property but I handled liability claims at Travelers in Dallas before I switched to underwriting. I don't work for the company but if that's where you're applying dropping my name might help you. I knew the guys who run that department pretty well while I was there.

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Send me your name via email. Thanks

felemendoza@att.net

High stress and Low Pay (~$40K) starting out. After 5 years in the Houston office at Farmers, there might have been 10 people out of about 80 that were there when I started. Not many people go to college to be a claims adjuster, so we get a ton of people just "passing through" to bigger and better things. We have a hard time finding quality people that want to work outside in the heat looking at roofs, climbing in attics, walking through fire damaged homes, etc. and get constantly berated by customers. It is a thankless job. Combine that with typical "millennial" work ethic and it tends to be a recipe for disaster. Most of the people I work with are mid-40s and older. Also there is a big difference in CAT adjusters, staff adjusters, and independent adjusters. CAT adjusters typically focus on a very narrow peril set and use templates for estimates/reports. They are pretty much seeing the same thing over and over, so not much need for investigation or independent thought. Staff adjusters tend to lack the desire for "hustle" since they are paid a salary regardless how hard they work and they tend to focus on a specific area of claims (property, auto, marine, WC, liability, casualty, etc). Independent adjusters work a variety of claims every day and are required to perform full investigations and write detailed reports that are specific to each claim. They are also paid by the billable hour, so to make decent money you have to know about all types of construction/claims and be very efficient. Someone with this type of skillset can likely find a better paying job with less stress.

That's my $.02 on the matter.

Thanks for your input.

I worked for State Farm, Travelers, and Liberty Mutual as a property adjuster. Travelers is a good company, but didn't feel the property dept. was run very well. There was lots of turnover, which left the people left to handle the burden until a new crop of new hires could come in. Training program is usually 4-6 months, then you will slowly start to receive roof claims, then transition into larger losses.

I would look into Liberty Mutual, they were a great company to work for, and really treated the employees well. Though I have left the industry, I would definitely work for them again.

I cant get past the auto reject process on Liberty. Well over 100 positions applied for, and almost instant rejection emails.

Maybe BIL is an independent adjuster. He started his own firm. He worked for UsAA previously. He likes where he is now much better.

I did a stint with Progressive in Houston right out of college for a year then a two year run with Farmers in Phoenix on the property side. I liked it (property more than auto) but I'm a relationship guy and I hated just chruning through claims. Left the industry in 2007 to a relationship based sales job where I see and work with the same customers year round.

Wasn't for me long term but got a lot of valuable experience about cars and home construction. Also spent a few months working cat after Rita in East Texas. Money can be good on cat duty but that was when I was single, couldn't imagine doing it with a family.

11 years as automobile liability with State Farm; 7 years auto liability with Farmers. Still a licensed adjuster, but with a law firm. My advice:
1. just say no
2. if you can't say no, try to move to different positions within the company every 12 - 18 months
3. after 5 years, apply with every big law firm near you.

Gig 'em!

Law firms have any interest in property adjusters? I work a lot of litigated claims for carriers but plaintiff counsel tends to rely on public adjusters or building consultants.