You will not find a public adjuster more transparent than author Ron Cercone.
Here you go:
https://www.uclaim.com/ron.asp
I grew up fighting insurance companies in a tough neighborhood, the San Joaquin Valley*, the central farming region of California. The things I learned after 1995 as a public adjuster working here, against insurers, is ‘the gold’ that will benefit you the most. What I learned ‘on the inside’ before that is mostly boring, but still necessary. You can find some of that ‘necessary’ stuff on other websites.
My insurance career started in 1980 as a field adjuster. I spent my first fifteen years as an adjuster representing many insurance companies (see ‘Ron Cercone Curriculum Vitae’ link in About Ron Cercone section) and I was biased against the policyholder. The bias was part of the ‘unofficial’ training. When I worked for insurers, I attended one top national training school for insurance adjusters. One student wrote on the black board ‘The insured is the enemy, depreciation is our friend.’ This stayed on the black board for the full week of the class. While the instructor routinely erased everything else, he never erased this. Everyone, including myself at that time, thoroughly enjoyed it.
In 1995, after much prodding from a nearly retired public adjuster, I decided to give up my independent adjuster license and obtain a public adjuster license. Under California law, unlike some other states, an adjuster may not represent both insurers and policyholders. An adjuster may not hold both licenses at the same time. It took about a year of really dirty in the trench fighting with insurers for my attitude about insurance companies to really change. I was forced to begin to learn new techniques, how to think creatively and how to use the law library. I discovered that insurers openly break the law and they keep their adjusters ignorant of many important laws. I learned that insurance policies often contain illegal language. I came to know that the state department of insurance did not have the manpower to enforce the law.
There was no turning back once I became a public adjuster working against insurers. I was blackballed from insurance industry social clubs. I had previously been, in effect, the ‘number two man’ in the San Joaquin Valley Property Adjusters Forum for nearly fifteen years. I was also an active member in the Central California Adjusters Association. Upon becoming a public adjuster, I was no longer welcome and my memberships were cancelled.
I learned how to survive and make a living in spite of all the obstacles. What you will get in this website is the best of my ideas and experience.
Author Ron Cercone
* The San Joaquin Valley is a farming economy and very conservative. It is an area dominated by people who believe that big business is our friend. It is not like Los Angeles or San Francisco. Most people sitting on a jury here would rather see an insurer use unfair claim practices than make a millionaire out of their neighbor with a punitive damage award against an insurance company. This is a fertile testing ground for insurers to use unfair claim practices before trying them in large metropolitan areas. The Farmers Insurance Group ‘View TM Questionnaire’ (see my You are the Enemy link in the free section of this website) is a prime example.
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