The Adjuster! Making Insurance Claims Pay [Perfect Paperback]

Gordon Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1998

The Adjuster! is a practical, down-to-earth self-help guide to learning the business of insurance claim adjusting. Written in an easy, comfortable style the book takes the beginner by the hand and leads the way through the basics of investigation, evidence gathering, analysis, evaluation and ultimately settlement negotiation. For the person who has no insurance experience the book provides the nuts and bolts of claims in a straightforward, simple manner with excercises and suggestions for further study. It includes descriptions of the materials and equipment which are used by the insurance claim adjuster and explains in honest terms what it takes to go into business for oneself. The book demonstrates how to start out "on the kitchen table" in a business of your own, or teaches the basics by which a trainee can go out and get a job working for someone else in a new and exciting career.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If I were going to take up a new profession, I would hope to be able to go to a friend who already had a great deal of experience in the trade and have him tell me ALL about it. This friend's stories should be witty as well as factual. Of course, I would want a philosophical and historical overview of things as well as a nitty-gritty, microscopic view of the details necessary for getting the job done. It would be tough to find a pal with nothing but time on his/her hands for non-stop mentoring, and one who wouldn't mind 4:00 a.m. phone calls when questions occurred to me.(From Casual comments, February 12, 1998)

If I were interested in becoming an Independent Adjuster, or learning what it was like to be one, I'd be in luck. Gordon Smith's The Adjuster! Making Insurance Claims Pay is the tell-all book that really tells all. The author draws on his years of experience as an independent adjuster to give a wide-ranging account of what the job is and how the industry works. He tells who the players are and what their points of view are. His stories touch on topics from the Great Fire of London in 1666, to the finer points of ladder selection in the here-and-now. He ties the whole work together with a narrative that is both amusing and informative. The book is going to press at Cargo Publishing Company, Houston, and it is a very good read. -Glen E. Hargis, editor, The Insurance Record -- Glen E. Hargis, editor, The Insurance Record

From the Publisher

Before bringing The Adjuster! to print, we asked people in the business to review the manuscript for quality, accuracy and technical content. Included was an attorney with many years of experience defending lawsuits for insurance companies. After reviewing the manuscript and making a few technical suggestions, this is what he said about the book. "Your book is excellent. It should be required reading for any adjuster who is getting into the business. Although I have been on the legal end of the claims business for 20 years, I learned a number of things while reading it. In conclusion, Gordon has done a magnificent job in describing the world of an adjuster from A to Z. Since I am in the process of writing my own book, I know how much work he put into this new book. His effort and wisdom are clearly evident." Robert H. Etnyre, Jr., Attorney-at-law

In another letter written after the book was released, Mr. Etnyre wrote the following: "Given the quality of the book and the information it contains, it should sell well around the country. Any adjuster worth his salt and most insurance coverage/insurance defense attorneys should be taking the time to study the contents."

The following is a portion of the foreword to the book written by a long time independent insurance adjuster in Dallas, Texas. "This is a book for the person who wants to become an insurance adjuster, for the adjuster who wants to become a better adjuster and for the old hands to take a look back at their own beginnings. Read The Adjuster! - become the "best you can be."" S. David Peeler, Jr., Immediate Past President, National Association of Independent Insurance Adjusters

We are grateful to both Mr. Etnyre and Mr. Peeler for the effort put forth in reviewing the manuscript and for their thoughtful comments. Copyright 1998, Cargo Publishing Company

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Cargo Publishing Company; First Edition, Second Printing edition (March 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965312399
• ISBN-13: 978-0965312394
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #683,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Insurance > Automobile

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From an Independent Adjuster, January 5, 2000

By 

P. Ebling (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Adjuster! Making Insurance Claims Pay (Perfect Paperback)

This book is every adjuster's bible, or should be. I have worked many years as an independent adjuster, without any such resource. A great deal of my time was spent trying to track down answers to general questions, that all adjusters have. The majority of those questions are addressed in this one book. Mr. Smith knows the areas of importance that an adjuster needs to know, on a day to day basis and has provided that information in his book. The book is also entertaining which makes it not only an easy read but an enjoyable read.

There are many different types of adjusters but there isn't any one type that would not find this book of some use. What do you do when you are on the phone with a claimant and suddenly they inform you they are represented? I spent five years in Management for one of the larger commercial carriers and never had this scenario spelled out for me or any of our adjusters as well as Mr. Smith advises on how to handle this touchy situation. Some very simple scenarios are addressed, because if handled incorrectly, they can be very costly. That is why this book should be required reading and used as an ongoing reference material for all adjusters who are truly serious at being the best in their particular field.

And to those adjusters, who are right now, out there sitting in fear because they don't know the answer to some question and therefore cannot proceed on a claim or an assignment (every adjuster knows that feeling), buy this book so you do not have to go through that experience anymore.

Thank you Mr. Gordon Smith, for realizing the need for a book such as this, for adjusters!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for entry level adjusters, March 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Adjuster! Making Insurance Claims Pay (Perfect Paperback)

If I were going to take up a new profession, I would hope to be able to go to a friend who already had a great deal of experience in the trade and have him tell me ALL about it. This friend's stories should be witty as well as factual. Of course, I would want a philosophical and historical overview of things as well as a nitty-gritty, microsopic view of the details necessary for getting the job done.

It would be tough to find a pal with nothing but time on his/her hands for non-stop mentoring, and one who wouldn't mind 4:00 a.m. phone calls when questions occurred to me.

If I were interested in becoming an Indepedent Insurance Adjuster, or learning what it was like to be one, I'd be in luck.

Gordon Smith's The Adjuster! Making Insurance Claims Pay is the tell-all book that really tells all. The author draws on his years of experience as an independent adjuster to give a wide-ranging account of what the job is and how the industry works. He tells who the players are and what their points of view are. His stories touch on topics from the Great Fire of London in 1666 to the finer points of ladder selection in the here-and-now. He ties the whole book together with a narrative that is both amusing and informative.

---Glen E. Hargis, editor, The Insurance Record

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank You, March 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Adjuster! Making Insurance Claims Pay (Perfect Paperback)

Mr. Smith does a wonderful job of introducing the claim adjusting business within the larger insurance field. Items up for discussion range from job related risks to ideas for similar or related careers. For those who consider themselves in the preliminary career research stage, this is a fantastic first read. Not every question is going to be spelled out in black and white, but the adjusting business is all about putting the pieces together for yourselves!