Jim Terrill goes from independent to carrier adjuster
Date: 9/4/2005Contact: Joan Barrett/800-690-0070
It may be indicative of the new era of insurance claims that we are in that James Terrill left a long career with independent adjusters and became a carrier adjuster. It certainly is indicative of a new era that Jim is a little frustrated with the connectibility that causes the policyholders on some losses to think that all he has to do is push a button and a check pops out of his computer to close their claim. Jim relates that it is common for claimants to expect same day or next day conclusion to their loss when his territory dictates that he travel from one end of the state to another and assignments come from all over- usually where he is not. For an experienced adjuster like Jim, whose associate once said of him, “Jim Terrill is a workhorse. He just keeps at it until the job is done.” it must be frustrating indeed to be thought of as less than diligent.
After the Army, he was preparing to work for a AAA Liability department in Modesto when he and his wife experienced a small fire in their attic. In conversation with the GAB adjuster that was sent to adjust the loss Jim learned that GAB was looking for an adjuster and the offer was a good one, so he was off to Marysville for two years. Susanville followed as the first office that Jim was in charge of and then Visalia, where the responsibilities increased. Jim was now in charge of the Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield and San Luis Obispo offices and handling claims as well. He juggled those responsibilities so well that he was sent to the Bay Area to oversee eight offices in Northern California.
When Lindsay Newsome was formed and took a lot of the GAB adjusters to work for the new firm, Jim was one of the stars that came along. Lindsay Newsome became Lindsay Morden which became Cunningham Lindsay. Jim rode through the changes, managed the Bay Area, San Jose and Walnut Creek offices for a time and finally transferred to Reno where his duties extended to overseeing the Boise, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas offices in addition to handling Northern Nevada claims. His mother-in-law’s deteriorating health demanded a move to Sacramento where he supervised Reno and Redding adjusters from the Sacramento base. With all of this Jim always preferred handling claims to administration duties so when the opportunity was offered to step away from managing others and confine his workday to managing claims, he happily became a General Adjuster.
The main differences between acting as an independent adjuster and a carrier adjuster for Jim lay mainly in the language of the policy. As an IA, he had many different clients which meant that documents, interpretations and policies could vary widely between clients whereas the carrier situation allows for just one set of policy guidelines and company policies. It’s a much more assured way to do one’s job, Jim feels. “Plus, carriers are more appreciative of the work that is done. It is much easier to issue a check and close the file without the added layer of examination that an IA has to allow for.” Without these restrictions, Jim usually exceeds the goal of having a check issued within 20 days by better than half.
Jim illustrated his view of contractors that act as public adjusters by relating a situation in Southern California where a contractor included items in his estimate that were excluded by the carrier and put in writing that the failure of the carrier to cover these items would be grounds for a bad faith lawsuit. Jim just shakes his head at the idea that an insurance policy to some is no longer a contract but an obligation by the carrier to perform whatever the policyholder and their chosen contractor feel should be covered.
Jim and his best friend, wife Barbara, have an active life that extends to rock hound organizations, woodturning groups and crafts so he is looking forward to his retirement in less than five years. Their El Dorado Hills home has been lovingly renovated by the pair while pursuing all of their other activities, and Jim seems to relish the idea of the ‘Honey-Dos’ that will follow his retirement. Jim and Barbara both have children from previous marriages that they remain close to and he and Barbara have been blessed with the first grandchild from their blended family.