Dealing With Your Insurance Following A Water Damage Home Disaster

After sustaining water damage to your property, what you proceed to do in the hours after can be vital to the repair process. It can be time consuming and expensive to repair water damages, but here are some helpful tips to ease you through the insurance and claims process.

First off, homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover floods, and might not cover other types of water damage. If you want coverage against flood damage, than you will have to buy a separate flood coverage policy through the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program). If you do not want to go ahead and buy a complete flood damage policy, you may be able to add coverage to your homeowners insurance to cover things like sudden or accidental water damage from your HVAC system or plumbing, mold remediation, or a sewer or drain backup.

It is important to always read your policy carefully so that you fully understand your policies coverage and dollar amount limits. If you have any questions regarding your policy, you can call your insurance agent with your insurance carrier.

After the water damage has occurred, you need to stop the water flow or the leak as soon as possible. Remove any pools of water and begin to thoroughly dry out the area to avoid any additional damage such as mold. Now, if you can’t remove the water and dry the area quickly, you should definitely consider hiring a water extraction company to come provide this service. You should always keep your receipts from the clean up and extraction to give to your insurance company as they may reimburse you for the services.

Next, you should notify your insurance company as soon as possible if you have received a claim. In most cases, there is a toll-free claims number that comes with your policy. Most companies will need a written statement of what has happened as well.

These following tips will help the claims process go smoothly for you:

First, you should review your policy to make sure you understand what it covers and what isn’t covered. If you aren’t sure, you should talk to your agent or the company.
Always have your policy number ready when you call your insurance carrier. You should also be prepared to answer any questions your adjuster may have about the damage.

Record the damaged areas and take photos of any damaged property before making any repairs. This is vital to the claims process if you want to be reimbursed for your personal property, and it is important especially if you get the damage repaired before the insurance adjuster has a chance to make it out to your property.

Do not throw away anything you removed from your house until the insurance adjuster has assessed it.
Make repairs that are only necessary to protect your home from further damage, but don’t make any large repairs until your insurance company says it’s O.K to do so.

Write down any money spent on repairs, and keep all receipts from services.
Make sure to write down everybody that you speak with at your insurance firm. Take note of the date, time, name of the person, and what you talked about. Also, you should keep copies of documents that are exchanged between you and your insurance company.

After filing the claim, you should hear back from the insurance company within a day or two. They will tell you about the process and what your responsibility is.

The company has to start investigating your claim within 15 days after written notice. Within this 15 day period, the company must accept or reject your claim. If they agree to pay it, they must pay within 5 business days. If they reject it, they must explain why in writing.
They will also send an adjuster out to your house to assess the damage and tell you if it is safe for not.

The company will also tell you if your policy covers the damage and will give you a damage estimate. This may be subject to change. The company may also provide you with a list of contractors to choose from for repairs.