Three Dangerous Assumptions On Home Insurance For Weather-Related Damage

Homeowners' insurance coverage for weather-related damages usually affects multiple homeowners while other damages may be isolated. This different is significant because it may affect how your insurer handles your claim for weather-related damages. Ignorance about this difference may lead to several dangerous assumptions, such as the following.

You Are Entitled To Immediate Coverage

Ideally, you should buy insurance to protect you in case something happens, but not because something is about to happen. For example, it's a mistake to buy insurance just before the flood season starts so that you can be compensated if floods damage your home. That is a dangerous move because flood insurance typically has a waiting period of 30 days, so don't expect your claim to be settled if you bought coverage three weeks ago. There are only a few exceptions where your coverage may go into effect immediately.

You Will Get a Fast Claim Settlement 

It's a mistake to expect your weather-related claim to be processed fast and settled as you would expect with other forms of damages. Weather-related damages take long, but it is not the insurers fault. Such damages are usually widespread, which means your insurance carrier will be dealing with multiple claims simultaneously. The necessary paperwork, questions, and investigations associated with such claims can be overwhelming. Expect the process to take longer than usual.

You Will Be Dealing With the Same Adjuster

When you experience an isolated damage, you may deal with the same insurance adjuster from the start to the end of your claim process. This is because the adjuster is likely to be a permanent employee of the insurer. However, this may not be the case with weather related damages. As explained above, it's likely that your insurer will be processing numerous claims at the same time, thereby dealing with many adjusters. The catastrophe adjusters may not even be permanent employees of the insurer, which means your adjuster may move on to another company or end their contract before your claim is settled.

The danger here is that you may develop a rapport with your insurer and assume they know and have everything in a file. Such an assumption may be costly you dearly if the adjuster leaves and you don't have copies of all paperwork and documents. Therefore, don't assume anything but keep your own file with all the documents connected to your claim.

Therefore, educate yourself about your insurance so that you don't suffer unnecessarily when damage occurs. Talk to an insurer like Callis & Associates for more information.