Public Adjuster in Puerto Rico — Unified Public Advocacy

Puerto Rico policyholders have lived through catastrophic hurricane and earthquake losses — and through the slow, underpaid claims that followed. Independent advocacy exists for exactly this. UPA represents Puerto Rico property owners across those losses — never the insurance company.

Puerto Rico has faced a rare concentration of catastrophe. Hurricane Maria in 2017 devastated the island with extreme wind, rain, and flooding, causing widespread structural loss and a long, difficult claims aftermath. Beginning in late 2019 and into January 2020, a damaging earthquake sequence struck the southwest of the island around Guánica and Ponce, cracking and collapsing structures, and Hurricane Fiona in 2022 brought another round of flooding and wind damage across the island.

UPA is licensed to serve policyholders in Puerto Rico. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit public adjusting firm, and we never take a penny out of a property or business owner's pocket — our fee is covered by the overhead and profit built into the insurance settlement itself.

Puerto Rico losses fail on cause, scope, and delay. Hurricane claims involve the wind-versus-water distinction and total or near-total structure losses that first estimates understate, and earthquake damage runs into separate earthquake coverage and its distinct deductible. Flood water is pushed into the flood exclusion, and the volume of claims after an island-wide disaster means damage is missed and settlements are slow and underpaid.

In Puerto Rico, earthquake damage typically involves a separate earthquake coverage with its own deductible rather than the base property form, and hurricane or named-storm deductibles apply to wind losses. Surge and flooding usually fall under separate flood coverage, and whether the policy pays actual cash value or replacement cost is decisive given high rebuild costs, so identifying which coverages apply before filing shapes the claim.

Puerto Rico’s building stock — concrete and masonry homes, older construction, and hillside and coastal properties — produces loss patterns first-pass adjusters under-scope, especially cracking and structural movement from seismic activity, wind-driven water in openings and roofs, and the true local cost of materials and labor that off-island estimates routinely understate.

Puerto Rico policyholders have lived through catastrophic hurricane and earthquake losses — and the slow, underpaid claims that followed. Public adjusters in Puerto Rico are licensed and regulated by the Oficina del Comisionado de Seguros and work for the policyholder in documenting and negotiating the loss. You can verify a license or file a complaint directly with the state regulator.

UPA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public adjusting firm. A for-profit adjuster's revenue depends on its cut of your claim; our nonprofit model does not. We never take a penny out of a property owner's pocket — our fee is covered by the overhead and profit built into the settlement — so our only interest is documenting your loss fully and pursuing the settlement your policy owes.

Download our Puerto Rico Insurance Claim Checklist and the universal guide to the tactics insurers use to hold settlements down — both emailed to you free.

Puerto Rico policyholders have lived through catastrophic hurricane and earthquake losses — and through the slow, underpaid claims that followed. Independent advocacy exists for exactly this.