Your home is inaccessible due to fallen objects, road closures or evacuation.
Call the insurance company to report your claim - explain that you do not have access to the home. The insurance company may have access to drone or other technology and be able to take pictures. You will need to wait until you have access to your home before you can return.
Your personal property was blown away and can’t be found.
If you have a previous photo or video diary or prewritten inventory of your property, use that for the purpose of reporting damage to/loss of personal property. If you do not have any of those, you may be able to use receipts if they are available to you in written or electronic form.
You can’t find your insurance policy.
If you can’t find your copy of your insurance policy, you can still get a copy from your insurance agent. If not, the insurance company will be able to pull up your policy using your name and property address.
You’re not sure if you have enough damage to make a claim.
Hurricane deductibles are usually higher than the all-other-perils deductible. If it doesn’t appear that you have extensive damage to your home beyond your deductible, it might also appear better not to make a claim and avoid having a claim making history on your policy. However, there are a couple other factors to consider:
- The hurricane deductible is applied annually, which means if a second storm causes damage to your home in the same calendar year, damage from the first storm will be calculated in meeting your deductible but only if it was reported.
- Sometimes there are hidden damages beyond what is apparent. If you don’t report the claim, but you begin making repairs then later on find the damage to be more extensive than you thought, you may have issues making a claim at that time. Most companies want claims reported before major repairs begin.
You have so much damage you can’t live in the home.
If your home is uninhabitable due to extensive damage, you will need to report this to the insurance company and make a claim for additional living expenses to help towards covering alternate living arrangements until sufficient repairs have been made to allow you to live in your home again.
Delay in claim process due to a major disaster
When a catastrophic disaster event occurs, the magnitude of people impacted will cause delays in the claim handling process. The following are examples of impacts to the claim handling process:
- The insurance company must hire numerous non-staff adjusters
- Insurance adjusters must manage a much higher number of claims
- Insurance adjusters burn out causing a high number of turnover and shortage
- Shortage of adjusters and high number of claims means a longer waiting period to get an adjuster out to your home
- Contractors become backed up and aren’t able to start repairs quickly
Being represented by a public adjuster or an attorney
When you are represented by another party like a public adjuster or attorney, this will impact communication between you and the insurance company. In some cases, the insurance company will communicate all claim related information to the public adjuster or attorney and not directly with you.
Coverage from multiple policies
When a disaster causes multiple types of damage to your home such as wind and flood damage and the perils are covered under multiple policies, this will cause a delay as the insurance companies have to investigate and coordinate responsibilities under the terms of each policy.
There was prior unrepaired damage to the home.
Prior unrepaired damage to your home will cause complications and delay the handling of your claim. The insurance company may have a right to deny all or part of a claim which involved preexisting damage. Preexisting damage is not an automatic reason for a claim to be denied; however, the process of making determinations can certainly cause delays. This can be further complicated if the preexisting damage is still being negotiated in an open claim, especially when the previous open claim is in litigation.
During times of disaster your company assigned adjuster may change in the middle of a claim investigation.
You may find your assigned adjuster changing multiple times as adjuster burnout and turnover is very common during periods following a catastrophic event. Be sure to keep a log of every adjuster you speak with and the details of those conversations.
The adjuster may need to seek specialized guidance for certain damages or coordinate with your contractor.
Many times the company adjuster will need to involve an engineer or mold specialists in the investigation of a claim. These specialists are not adjusting the claim or taking the place of the adjuster. They provide information that is later used by the adjuster in preparing their estimate. You should be provided with a copy of the adjusters detailed estimate within 7 days of its completion.
When the contract stipulates specific dispute resolutions methods to be followed
When there are disputes between you and the insurance company during the negotiation of the claim, the insurance contract may mandate certain types of methods to be used to settle the dispute. Read your contract to understand these terms. Common methods include mediation or appraisal.
Obligated fees
If you are represented by a public adjuster or attorney, you will have to pay them out of your claim benefits or settlement. This will reduce what is available for you to make repairs to your home.
A large deductible
A large deductible may result in no payment made even though damages are covered.
Contractor delay
During a disaster, contractors may be delayed in starting work on your home.
Specific sublimits on certain types of damages
Your contract may have specific sublimits such as a mold limit that will limit how much you receive as part of your total claim.
Actual Cash Value (ACV) vs Replacement Cost Value (RCV)
If your policy covers your property on an actual cash value (ACV) policy instead of a replace cost value (RCV) you may see a reduction for depreciation in the final amount paid out to you.
Additional damage
Not all damage is apparent at first and some will not be discovered until after repairs begin. When further damage is found while making repairs that result in making a supplemental claim.
