Glossary
Claims Adjuster Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential claims adjuster terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key claims adjuster vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in claims adjuster training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Actual cash value (ACV)
- Replacement cost minus depreciation.
- Catastrophe (CAT) adjuster
- An adjuster who handles claims after disasters.
- Claimant
- The person making a claim.
- Coverage
- What the policy pays for.
- Deductible
- The amount the policyholder pays first.
- Depreciation
- Loss of value over time.
- Exclusion
- Something the policy doesn’t cover.
- Fraud indicators
- Signs a claim may be fraudulent.
- Independent adjuster
- An adjuster who works for firms hired by insurers.
- Policy
- The insurance contract.
- Proof of loss
- A sworn statement of a claim.
- Replacement cost value (RCV)
- The cost to replace without depreciation.
- Reserve
- Money set aside to pay a claim.
- Subrogation
- Recovering payment from a responsible third party.
- Xactimate
- Common property estimating software.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Claims Adjuster practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Claims Adjuster training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.