Filing a Homeowner's Insurance Claim

Preparation is key

When a disaster occurs such as a fire or a flood, a homeowner is often stressed out, scared, and confused. The claim process will go smoothly if you are able to take few moments to gather thoughts and the facts regarding the incident.

The first bit of information that an insurance company will want to know is the date of loss. You should report any incidents as soon as they happen to your insurance company, preferably the same day. Sometimes however the damage is not discovered until several days or some items several weeks after the incident occurs. This happens particularly in incidents where a seasonal second home sustains damage through a winter season. Make sure you establish the best-known date of loss and provide this information to your insurer.

The next piece of information that the insurance company will want to know is the cause of the loss. The reason for this is that policies either contain a list of covered causes of loss or a list of excluded causes of loss. If the cause of damage falls into the category of a covered cause, then you will be able to collect on your insurance claim. If the cause of loss falls into the category of an excluded cause of loss, there will be no coverage.

The third piece of information the insurance company will want to know is if the damage was caused by someone else, meaning someone who is responsible for the damage either through a malicious act or through an act of negligence. In either case, the insurance company will want to build a case against this person or entity and subrogate, or make a legal attempt to collect the money that the person or entity is responsible for. For example if you have a fire in your kitchen that is caused by a defective toaster the insurance company will want to know the name of the manufacturer of the toaster. The need the date of purchase, the manufacturer's address, the location of the purchase, and they will want copies of any receipts or invoices fro the purchase of the 8item. Remember this bit of information in the event that you have any damage in your home caused by product.

You may also find that damage to your residence may have been caused by a person either through vandalism or through for example the negligence of a neighbor. It is often the case that trees from one property fall over and damage another property. IF wind caused the property, to fall this is considered an act of god and there is no fault to assign to anyone. However if there is a tree that is old and rotted, and you have warned the neighbor to take the tree down because it was dangerous, and it falls on your home, a compelling argument could be made that the owner of that tree was negligent for not removing the tree. The insurance company will want the name address and phone number of the responsible party.

Ponce you have gathered this info call your agent. The agent will guide you through the process and ask the appropriate questions and they will then contact your insurance company to notify them of the claim. The company will then likely assign an adjuster to your case.

Depending on the type of damage and the company you are dealing with, they may assign a claims adjuster to come out to look at your damage and do an assessment. This process may require you to obtain a contractor' estimate to do the repairs. IN most cases, the insurance company will write their own estimate to compare with the contractors' estimate and if there are any extreme differences, your insu8rance company will often work with your contractor to negotiate the bill or to identify differences between the two estimates. Bear in mind that it may not always by the case that the insurance company's estimate is lower just because they are cheap. It may well be that your contractor's estimate to repair includes many items that are either upgrades or not related to the loss.

Once an agreement has been made with an adjuster, the settlement check will usually follow. You are required by the policy in most case to provide the insurance company with a Sworn Statement in proof of loss. This special document needs to signed and notarized by you8 and it will outline your identity, your address, the type of property, any liens or mortgages, the cause of the loss, the date of the loss, and the amount of the damage. It is very important to not that if an insurance company demands a proof of loss in writing; you have a set time per your policy to provide this document. If you fail to do so, your claim may be denied.

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