Filing an insurance claim on your own can be scary, confusing, and frustrating. It is understandable though. If you had to defend yourself in court you would feel the same way. The fact is, the insurance company wrote your policy/contract. You had no say in what is in the contract and they hire attorneys and adjusters to defend the contract that they wrote. When you file a claim on your own, without your own defense, you are relying on the goodwill of the insurance company to settle the claim in your best interest. Unfortunately, they are more interested in their own interests than your interests.
When I worked for the insurance companies, we had to follow their strict settlement guidelines regardless of my personal opinions. We were not allowed to look for damage and only estimate for what the homeowner pointed out to us. We were required to modify the price list in the estimating software, leave out money owed for, and even items that were covered under the policy. All of this was done to limit the amount owed by the insurance company. I wish this was unique to one insurance company, but the majority of carriers act this way. They all base their claims, not off of making their insureds financially whole again, but what will help their bottom line. If you don’t believe me read “From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves”.
The point is, unless you know every line in your policy, every local law and code, federal law and code, completely understand indemnity and fiduciary law, construction, and how to estimate for all damages, then you are likely going to be shorted by your insurance company. That is the sad, but honest, truth.
I will tell you a story of a claim I had. Lucy, the homeowner, (name changed) turned on her hose to water her flowers in the summer heat. It was the first time that she had turned on the hose that year. She watered her flowers for about an hour. When she went inside her home. There was water all over her house. The faucet had frozen over the winter and started leaking in her walls when she turned it on. The insurance company said they would not cover the faucet. They said they do not cover plumbing, nowhere in their policy did it state they did not cover plumbing. They finally agreed to pay for the damages from the water, but still refused to cover the faucet saying that was the cause of the loss. Now Lucy did not know any better and could not fight this on her own. The fact of the matter was the faucet should be covered as it was not the cause of the loss. The cause of the loss was freezing temperatures. That is like saying after your house burns down that they will replace everything in the house but the plumbing. It was completely absurd. Again, if you file a claim on your own, this is the type of bad faith claims practices you will likely have to deal with.
We would like to make your life a little easier. You always have the option of defending yourself in a claim. Why would you though? Give us a call today and let us fight for you! Many times we are able to help even long after the claim has been filed. We offer a free inspection, policy review, and consultation. You’ve got nothing to lose.