IN Public Adjuster common mistakes
IN Public Adjuster · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating the public adjuster license as authority to negotiate the insured's claim without a written contract, then signing clients on a handshake or a one-page letter before the loss is even documented.
Candidates transfer habits from sales roles or from states where the contract rules feel informal, and they assume the license itself authorizes representation. Indiana requires a written contract, signed by the insured, containing specified terms and the compensation basis, before the adjuster may represent the insured on a claim.
What to do instead
Memorize the statutory contract elements as a checklist (parties, loss location, scope of authority, fee or percentage basis, cancellation rights, signature and date) and practice drafting a compliant agreement from a blank page. Never begin negotiating with a carrier until the executed contract is in the file.
Describing the adjuster's role in the first client meeting as 'getting you the most money' or 'fighting the insurance company,' rather than explaining the fiduciary duty to the insured and the limits of the adjuster's authority.
Candidates confuse advocacy with the actual duty owed: the public adjuster acts for the insured, owes undivided loyalty, must not create false impressions of carrier authority, and cannot settle without the insured's authorization. Marketing language leaks into the explanation of duties.
What to do instead
Write and rehearse a two-minute disclosure script covering: who the adjuster represents, that the adjuster is not an agent of the insurer, that the fee comes from the claim proceeds or the insured, and that settlement requires the insured's approval. Use it verbatim in every initial contact.
Confusing insurable interest with ownership, so the candidate tells a tenant, a contract buyer, or a mortgagee that they have no claim because they do not hold title.
Insurable interest is taught through the homeowner example, and candidates then apply a title test to every exposure. Indiana recognizes insurable interest in any lawful economic relationship where loss of the property would cause pecuniary detriment.
What to do instead
Build a table of interest types (owner, mortgagee, lienholder, tenant, bailee, contract purchaser, business interruption interest) and for each write what the interest attaches to and when it must exist. Apply the pecuniary-loss test, not the title test, on every claim review.
Reading the declarations page and treating the listed limit as the answer to every coverage question, without checking the coverage form, endorsements, exclusions, and the deductible or coinsurance provisions that actually govern the payout.
Declarations pages are short and concrete, while forms are long and conditional. Under time pressure candidates answer from the dec page, then miss that an endorsement narrows the grant or that a coinsurance clause reduces recovery.
What to do instead
Practice a fixed reading order for every policy: declarations, coverage grant, exclusions, conditions, endorsements, then limits and deductibles. On each practice question, name the specific form or endorsement provision that controls before selecting an answer.
Applying HO-3 open-peril reasoning to a dwelling fire policy or an HO-2, or assuming the HO-3 peril list covers the dwelling and personal property identically.
The HO-3 is the default mental model, and candidates forget that the dwelling is open peril while personal property is named peril, and that DP forms and HO-2 are named peril throughout. Endorsements can shift either side.
What to do instead
Build a side-by-side grid of DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HO-2, HO-3, HO-5, HO-8 showing which coverage is open versus named peril, the loss-of-use options, and the standard endorsements that modify each. Recite the grid from memory before the exam.
Computing business income loss as gross revenue minus expenses for the downtime, ignoring the period of restoration, the coinsurance or limit provisions, and the extra expense tradeoff.
Business income is the least intuitive property coverage for candidates trained on building and contents valuation, and the 'profits' shortcut feels right. The actual measure is net income plus continuing normal operating expenses, limited by the period of restoration.
What to do instead
Work three full business income problems by hand: one with a coinsurance clause, one where extra expense reduces the business income loss, and one with a partial suspension. Show the period of restoration start and end dates explicitly in each calculation.
Treating an inland marine or equipment floater as a standard property policy, so the candidate applies the policy territory, off-premises limits, and deductible structure of the commercial property form to a contractor's tools or a motor truck cargo exposure.
Nationwide or worldwide territory, no coinsurance, and per-item limits are hallmarks of inland marine forms, but candidates default to the property form they studied most. They also miss that many inland marine forms are written on a valued or agreed-amount basis.
What to do instead
For each inland marine line studied (contractor's equipment, motor truck cargo, bailee, accounts receivable, valuable papers), write the territory, valuation basis, limit structure, and key exclusions on one card. Compare each card against the commercial property form to see the differences.
Answering liability questions by looking only at the insured's negligent act, without identifying the coverage trigger, the occurrence definition, or the exclusions that bar the claim.
Candidates reason from tort intuition rather than from the policy language, and they skip the occurrence-based trigger analysis, the bodily injury versus property injury distinction, and exclusions such as expected or intended injury, contractual liability, and the care-custody-control exclusion.
What to do instead
Use a four-step liability drill on every practice fact pattern: identify the claimant's theory, the coverage trigger, the grant of coverage, then each exclusion that could apply. Write the exclusion by name and quote its operative language before concluding.
Submitting a claim estimate built from replacement cost figures without documenting depreciation, the age and condition of the damaged property, or the basis for the pricing source used.
Candidates want to produce a big number for the insured and skip the documentation that makes the number defensible. Carriers reject or reduce estimates that lack line-item support, and the adjuster's credibility collapses on the first challenge.
What to do instead
For every estimate, attach the pricing source and date, a line-item breakdown, photographs keyed to line items, and a depreciation schedule showing method and useful life. Practice defending one estimate line by line to a mock carrier reviewer.
Skipping the scene investigation steps that create the claim record: no recorded or signed statement from the insured, no photograph log, no proof-of-loss deadline tracking, and no written reservation of the carrier's request for documents.
Candidates treat investigation as a formality and focus on the estimate, but many claim disputes turn on what was documented and when. Missing the proof-of-loss deadline or failing to document a carrier's information request can forfeit or delay the claim.
What to do instead
Maintain a claim file checklist with dates for first notice, inspection, recorded statement, proof of loss due date, carrier requests, and response deadlines. Photograph and log every room and elevation, and confirm the proof-of-loss deadline in writing at the first client meeting.