How Public Adjusters Are Paid
The fee is in the contract, in writing, before you sign
If you came here for a number, here is the straight answer: there is no Pennsylvania rate for public adjusters, so no honest website can quote you one. The fee is a term of a written contract, and 31 Pa. Code § 115.2 requires that contract to state it either as a percentage of any payments to be received on the negotiated claim or as a maximum dollar amount. Pennsylvania also requires the contract form itself to have been filed with and approved by the Insurance Department before it is used (§ 115.8). So you will see the exact figure, in writing, on an approved form, before you sign anything.
Which makes the useful question a different one: what am I looking at on this contract, and what should I ask before I sign it? That is what the rest of this page answers — what Chapter 115 requires the document to contain, what it forbids the document from doing, what the adjuster owes you once you have hired them, and the six questions worth asking first.
For ACI specifically: we represent policyholders on a contingency basis, and the initial inspection and policy review are free. We explain exactly how our fee works before you sign anything, and there is no obligation to proceed after the free review.
Everything cited below is a Pennsylvania regulatory requirement and applies to any licensed public adjuster in the Commonwealth, not only to ACI. Where something is a firm-by-firm contract term rather than a legal requirement, this page says so.
What the contract must contain
31 Pa. Code § 115.2 sets minimum standards for the contents of a public adjuster contract. If a document you are handed is missing these, that is worth raising before you sign rather than after.
The title “Public Adjuster Contract”
The document has to identify itself as what it is.
The adjuster’s name, business name, address, and telephone number
Along with the name and address of the insured. If the document does not identify who you are contracting with, that is a problem on its face.
The fee — as a percentage, or as a maximum dollar amount
§ 115.2 requires the consideration to be expressed as a percentage of any payments to be received on the negotiated claim, or as a maximum dollar amount. This is the sentence to find first and read twice.
Space for the execution date, by month, day, and year
The execution date matters because other deadlines in Chapter 115 run from it.
Space for both signatures
The insured’s and the public adjuster’s.
A cancellation notice, in prominent type, on the first page
Not on the reverse and not in the body. § 115.2 requires it to be prominent and on page one.
What the contract may not do
§ 115.2 also rules certain terms out. These are the ones most worth knowing, because they are the ones a policyholder is least likely to question:
- Collecting the whole fee out of the first payment, or collecting a fee on money that is due but has not been paid.
- Requiring you to authorize checks issued only in the public adjuster’s name.
- Imposing late fees or collection costs on the insured.
Separately, § 115.3 provides that a public adjuster may not negotiate, transfer, sell, or assign the contract to a finance company or other third party prior to midnight of the fifth business day following the execution date. And § 115.4 addresses inducing the cancellation of an existing contract — relevant if someone approaches you about switching adjusters mid-claim.
Your right to cancel
Pennsylvania builds a cancellation window into every public adjuster contract, and it comes with procedural protections that are easy to overlook.
§ 115.2 requires the cancellation notice to appear in prominent type on the first page of the contract. § 115.3 requires that you be verbally informed of the right to cancel at the time of signing, that you be given a copy of the executed contract, and that the approved cancellation notice state the adjuster’s name and business address, the execution date, and the actual date by which you may give notice of cancellation.
Read that date off your own notice rather than counting days — the notice is required to tell you, and it is specific to your contract. And note § 115.3’s protection on timing: the cancellation period does not begin until you have actually been informed of your right to cancel and given the approved notice. If nobody told you and nobody handed you the notice, the clock had not started.
If you do cancel, § 115.3 requires the adjuster, within 15 business days of receiving your notice, to refund payments made under the contract, cancel and return any negotiable instruments you executed in connection with it, and act to terminate any security interest created under it. The same section provides that you remain liable for reasonable and necessary emergency out-of-pocket expenses or services the adjuster paid for or incurred before the cancellation.
What the adjuster owes you once hired
31 Pa. Code § 115.9 imposes three ongoing duties. The second is the one policyholders most often do not know they have:
- Notify the insurer within 5 business days. The adjuster must notify the insurer of the representation within 5 business days of the contract’s execution date, to facilitate processing of the claim.
- Pass on every settlement offer, in writing, within 5 business days. All settlement offers from the insurer must be communicated to you in writing within 5 business days “so that the insured is made aware of all the options.” Offers are yours to know about — not the adjuster’s to filter.
- Reply to the insurer within 5 business days. Written communications from the insurer that require a response must be answered in writing within 5 business days.
§ 115.7 provides for penalties under the chapter, and the Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s Bureau of Consumer Services accepts complaints about public adjusters as well as about insurers — 1-877-881-6388 or ra-in-consumer@pa.gov.
Six questions to ask before you sign
Ask these of any public adjuster, including us. A firm that is uncomfortable answering them plainly has told you something useful.
Is the fee a percentage or a maximum dollar amount, and of what exactly?
§ 115.2 permits either form. “Of what” is the part worth pinning down — the contract should make the base unambiguous, and you should be able to restate it in your own words before you sign.
Does the fee apply to payments the insurer had already made or offered before I hired you?
This is a firm-by-firm contract term, not something Chapter 115 settles. Ask, and confirm the answer appears in the document.
What is the scope — this claim only, or anything that follows from it?
A contract covers a specific claim. Check whether supplements, reopened portions, or a later appraisal are inside or outside the engagement.
Who is actually doing the work, and are they licensed?
Ask for the license and verify it with the Insurance Department. You are entitled to know who will handle your file.
What happens if I cancel — and what date is on my cancellation notice?
§ 115.3 requires the notice to state the date by which you may cancel. Read that date off the document rather than counting from memory.
How and when will settlement offers reach me?
§ 115.9 requires all settlement offers to be communicated to you in writing within 5 business days. Confirm how that will happen in practice.
Is it worth it on your claim?
That depends on the claim, and the honest answer is that it does not always make sense. A contingency fee comes out of the claim proceeds, so on a small, straightforward loss that the insurer has scoped correctly, the arithmetic may not favour bringing anyone in. Nobody can tell you which situation you are in without seeing the policy and the estimate.
What a public adjuster does is the documentation and negotiation work: establishing the full scope of the loss, preparing the estimate, assembling the proof, and dealing with the insurer. That work matters most where the scope is contested, the damage is complex or partly hidden, the loss is large relative to the policy, or the claim has already stalled or been denied.
Because the initial inspection and policy review are free and carry no obligation, finding out which category your claim falls into does not cost you anything. If the answer is that you do not need us, we will tell you that.
Frequently Asked Questions
The fee is a term of a written contract, and Pennsylvania regulation requires it to be stated there. Under 31 Pa. Code § 115.2, a public adjuster contract must express the consideration either as a percentage of any payments to be received on the negotiated claim or as a maximum dollar amount. That means you will see the exact figure in writing, on the contract, before you sign anything — and it is a firm-by-firm term rather than a rate set by the Commonwealth. ACI works on a contingency basis, and the initial inspection and policy review are free. We explain exactly how our fee works before you sign, and there is no obligation to proceed after the free review.
The fee is a contract term rather than a rate the Commonwealth sets, and 31 Pa. Code § 115.2 governs how it must be disclosed rather than what it may be. What Chapter 115 does regulate is the form and content of the contract — including several things a contract may not do, such as collecting the entire fee out of the first payment, or imposing late fees or collection costs on the insured.
Yes. Pennsylvania requires public adjusters to use a contract form that has been filed with and approved by the Insurance Department — under 31 Pa. Code § 115.8, applications for licensure and contract forms are submitted to the Insurance Department’s Bureau of Producer Services for filing and approval by the Commissioner. Under § 115.3, you must also be given a copy of the executed contract and be verbally informed of your right to cancel at the time of signing.
Pennsylvania builds a cancellation right into the contract. Under 31 Pa. Code § 115.2 the contract must carry a cancellation notice in prominent type on its first page, and under § 115.3 the notice must state the actual date by which you may give notice of cancellation — so read the date on your own notice rather than counting days. § 115.3 also provides that the cancellation period does not begin until you have been informed of the right to cancel and given the approved notice.
Under 31 Pa. Code § 115.3, within 15 business days of receiving your cancellation notice the public adjuster must refund payments made under the contract, cancel and return any negotiable instruments you executed in connection with it, and take the steps needed to terminate any security interest created under it. The same section provides that if you cancel, you remain liable for reasonable and necessary emergency out-of-pocket expenses or services the adjuster paid for or incurred before the cancellation.
31 Pa. Code § 115.9 sets three duties. The adjuster must notify the insurer of the representation within 5 business days of the contract’s execution date; must communicate all settlement offers from the insurer to you in writing within 5 business days, so you are aware of all your options; and must reply in writing within 5 business days to written communications from the insurer that require a response.
Public adjusters in Pennsylvania are licensed by the Commonwealth, and you can verify a license through the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. The Department’s Bureau of Consumer Services also accepts complaints about public adjusters as well as about insurers — 1-877-881-6388, or ra-in-consumer@pa.gov.
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