6 Tips for Filing a Home Insurance Claim

Oftentimes, even homeowners that are familiar with the benefits of home insurance policies don't always know how to use them. Case in point: claims. People purchase home insurance to protect what in most cases is their largest investment from perils such as fire, wind, hail and theft. When one of those problems occurs, however, policyholders are often not sure how to proceed.

 

We're here to give some advice on what to do if one of the covered jeopardies affects your home – and your "stuff," including your furniture, appliances, electronics and clothing. Yes, standard home insurance typically covers the contents of your home along with the structure itself. 

 

Following are 6 tips on how to file a claim successfully when fire or another peril affects you:

 

Prepare for the worst before it happens

If you only take one piece of advice from this list, it should be this: Create a home inventory. What's a home inventory? It's a master list of everything you own and might want to repair or replace after a tornado or fire or other covered problem. Why do you need it? It's the best way to document your possessions to your provider. Having a home inventory generally speeds up the time it takes to be reimbursed.

 

How do you get started? Download a form such as this one and move from room to room, meticulously recording each item along with serial numbers if you have them. It's helpful to have receipts for large items, and you should try estimating the value of an item if you don't have a receipt. Take detailed photos, too. 

 

A byproduct of compiling this inventory is that it will give you an idea of whether you have enough coverage for your possessions. Standard policies typically limit your contents coverage to 50% to 70% of your dwelling coverage – the amount it would take to rebuild your house from the ground up if it were destroyed by a covered peril. Make sure you know your contents coverage limit and compare it to the total value of the items on your home inventory. 

 

Finally, make several copies of your home inventory. Store at least one outside the house, and keep an electronic copy. The inventory won't do you any good if it's destroyed by the same peril that damages your house and possessions.

 

Decide whether to file a claim

This might sound crazy, but you won’t want to file a claim in certain situations. Make sure you know your deductible – the amount you agree to pay toward a claim before the insurance provider takes charge. 

 

Say your deductible is $1,000 and the damage to your home would cost $850 to repair. You wouldn't receive any help from your provider. Even if the repair bill exceeds the deductible, you'll need to at least consider whether to file a claim. Why? Because a claim likely will cause future premiums to increase – sometimes for as many as five years or more. So if you have $1,300 worth of damage and a $1,000 deductible, the $300 payment from your carrier might not be enough to offset future premium increases.

 

Begin the claims process

Sometimes there's no question about it. If a tree crashes through your roof and your home gets doused by rain, the damage is going be great enough that you'll want to file a claim. The first step is a simple but vital one: Let your provider know about the incident as soon as possible. Take photos of the damage, store them and start the paperwork as soon as you can.

 

Make temporary repairs

But what about the hole in your roof and the next round of storms headed your way? While you shouldn't hire a contractor and have him or her begin work at this point, you can make temporary repairs to minimize further damage. In this case, you could cover the hole in the roof with a tarpaulin to keep the water out.

 

The claims adjuster

Once it receives your claim, the insurance provider will send a claims adjuster to your home to assess the damage. The adjuster will report back to the carrier, which will then offer you a claims settlement. If the terms are agreeable, you can look for the check – it will likely be made out to you and your mortgage lender – and begin repairs.

But what if you don't agree with the terms? You can appeal to your provider and ask for documentation. You might want to hire a public insurance adjuster – an independent adjuster who may see things differently from the provider’s adjuster. At the very least, the public adjuster can help bolster your case with the insurance provider.

 

What if I can't live in my house?

Standard home insurance policies usually include loss of use coverage, which helps with extra expenses if your house is uninhabitable due to a covered peril. It can help pay hotel and restaurant bills while your home is being repaired. Keep all receipts during this time, and be cognizant that some providers limit the amount they'll pay for this protection or limit the time period or both.

 

The claims process doesn't have to be a struggle, but it is important to take steps in the right order and to document everything you do, as well as keeping lines of communication open with your agent and provider.

 

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