Those with homeowner insurance expect their insurance company to be there for them when they need it most. That is why it can come as a shock when the claim that they filled with their insurance company comes back denied.
“Denied? How? I pay a premium every month to be covered, and now when I need to use my insurance, I get nothing?”
You have to know that insurance companies aren’t some of the wealthiest companies on earth because they have your best interest in mind. They are because they try to find every way possible to not pay you as much, or at all for your settlement.
Insurance companies deny claims for many reasons. While there are a few that are legitimate, others are just meant to make filing your claim a hassle and hopefully result in your just giving up.
Let’s talk about some of the ways that insurance companies deny claims and how to solve them.
How insurance claims work
First, let’s talk about how insurance claims work. An insurance claim is simply you submitting to your insurance company that something happened to your home that is covered by our policy.
Every insurance company has a slightly different process, but essentially the insurance company receives your claim and then begins the process of verifying it. They will even send people out to your home to confirm that the damage did take place and assess the cost.
Once they have verified it, they go through an approval process to make sure that you are covered for that type of damage. Once you jump through all those hoops, the insurance company will make you a settlement offer which you can accept or decline. Once accepted, you receive your settlement.
So where can an insurance company deny your claim?
The answer is pretty much anywhere in that entire process explained above.
When you initially file your claim, there is going to be a TON of paperwork that you need to fill out. If there is a single, tiny error anywhere on that paperwork, you may be forced to start your claim all over again. It is very important to be as accurate as possible when filling out your initial claim.
The next place where a lot of claims get hung up is in the verification phase. This part of the process involves a lot of people that work for the insurance company and their opinions on the damage that takes place.
The problem is, their “opinion” always seems to favor the insurance company. An example would be if your basement becomes flooded during a storm. The insurance company may send someone out to assess the damage and this person might try to say that the damage didn’t actually take place at the time you said it did, therefore, it shouldn’t be covered.
This same theme follows through into the final steps where insurance companies will try to use their fine print and other language that they have put into their policies to say that you actually aren’t covered in the first place. Following the same example, your basement might flood because of a storm, but the insurance company will say it is actually flooding damage, not storm damage, and that you are not covered in that case.
All throughout the process, the insurance company is going to find a string to pull in order to deny your claim. It is important that you stick to it and make sure to not give in to their pressure.
How can public adjusters help with denied home insurance claims?
Do you know what all of those areas above have in common? It’s that the insurance company is assuming you don’t have someone in your corner helping you with your claim. By hiring an expert like a public adjuster, you are bringing in your own expert to talk the insurance company language and see through their tactics. In many cases, we know the insurance company’s policies better them they know them.
In order to prevent your claim from being denied, it is easier to get us involved right away. Even if you have already filed your claim and it has already been denied, it’s not too late to get us involved. We help with all kinds of claims and are ready to make your process go smooth and easy.
