Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute! The insurance check has finally arrived there just ain’t quite enough dough to make a biscuit. Long story short: you’ve been short-changed.
Naturally, your first reaction is that of anger and panic, “I pay my premiums, why are they not giving me what I’m owed?”; “I’ve been a loyal customer for many years, why are they treating me this way?”; “They’re going to hear from my lawyer!”
First of all, let me say that this is a natural reaction. Your home is your domain, your sanctuary, your place of peace, and likely your biggest investment. Is it fair that a paper-pusher in a polo gets to determine the value of your items? Absolutely not. Fortunately, this is not the end of the road; you have options, so don’t tear that check up just yet.
The inspection seemed to go off without a hitch, what went wrong?
Sometimes that pesky deductible helps itself to a dinner portion of your estimate. The deductible is the amount of money you must pay before the insurance company pitches in. Throughout the insurance game, we have seen deductibles range from $100 all the way up to six figures. This is based on the policy sold to you by your insurance agent and the higher the deductible, the less money will be paid out by your insurance company.
Speaking of “d” words, depreciation is another factor commonly overlooked when the paycheck panic sets in. Depreciation is the loss in value of your possessions over time, typically due to wear and tear, based on their age and condition. Depreciation is usually withheld on your first check and subsequently released upon the completion of the project, pending evidence can be provided that repairs have been completed. This, of course, depends on if your policy is an actual cash value policy (non recoverable depreciation) or a recoverable depreciation policy.
Sometimes, the adjuster has the dumb. Whether it be a new adjuster or a seasoned adjuster having an off-day, human error can grossly affect the outcome of a claim. This presents itself in the misidentification of damage or material, the miscalculation of necessary repairs, or incorrect measurements.
Adjusters often visit multiple risk locations throughout the day with an abundance of travel time in between. Because of this, exhaustion and stress can cause minor mistakes with major consequences. For instance, there have been occasions when an adjuster uploaded the wrong sketch to the file, resulting in a discrepancy in the size of the roof, which ultimately caused a large variance in the claim total.
Unlike the previous components, “Damage not related to this cause of loss” has little wiggle room. Where you can adjust your policy and deductible, schedule a re-inspection with a different adjuster, or recover your depreciation, if the damage discovered to your dwelling is not a result of the peril filed on your claim, then, simply put, it may not be covered.
For example, a recent hail storm has passed through the area, peppering your roof with visible hail impacts. As you walk the perimeter of your home with your adjuster, you notice dents to your siding for the first time. Your adjuster acknowledges and documents this damage, however it has not been included in your estimate as the adjuster has determined the linear pattern and location of the damage is not in line with hail damage but rather the result of a weed eater along the base of your siding. Naturally, this would not be included as it is not a related to the cause of loss listed on your claim.
Now, unless you are doing the labor yourself, you will need to hire a roofer to replace that pipe jack flashing for you. The average cost of labor for roof repairs is approximately $400. This falls below most deductibles so many people choose not to have it done; but the thing is, even if you had a $5 deductible, your insurance company is probably not going to cover this damage as it is considered a maintenance cost and, per the terms of the average insurance policy, you are expected to properly maintain your home.
How can Hammer Down help?
Let us just say, the estimate you received is not the end-all-be-all of your claims process. In fact, often it is just the jumping off point.
Before we get started, we want to emphasize that you do not have to share your estimate with your contractor, whether it be us or any other professional. However, it does give us an idea of where the insurance company is coming from and how they got there.
Let’s assume we are your contractors and we have already performed your inspection. What we would like to do next is review your insurance company’s estimate and findings to determine if they have included everything and if we can perform the job with what they are offering.
From the provided estimate, we can see the following items:
- The structures/rooms estimated
- An itemized account of their finding
- The measurements of said structure
- Whether or not they are being estimated for repairs or replacement
What we do next is request a supplement for items that were under-estimated or overlooked. This is our opportunity to really come through and advocate for you and your home.
A supplement is additional request of funds for missing or incorrect items. Let’s go back to your siding:
So you pointed out the linear damage at the bottom of your siding to your adjuster, he documented it and determined it was not related to the storm and therefore it was not estimated. He was not in the wrong for that and damage that was not a result of the storm would not be covered, but was he so concerned with the damage you pointed out that he neglected to perform a thorough inspection? No, the damage you pointed out is not covered, but he may have overlooked hail damage in his haste to move on to the next one. This is where we come in, we chalk your siding and find several sporadic dents to your siding consistent with hail. We would then provide this information to your insurance carrier, along with photos showing said damage, and request additional funds to account for the covered damage.
Now, will the siding damaged by the weed eater get replaced? That depends. If the sustained hail damage to the siding was so wide spread that a full replacement of that elevation is warranted, then congratulations your weed eater damage is no more! However, a few hits in a secluded area (maybe from tree coverage or directionality of storm) may mean the insurance carrier is only willing to pony up the dough for a spot repair.
Whatever the case, we have got you covered; it’s as simple as submitting a supplement for additional damages.
Remember, the insurance company is required to indemnify you for your covered losses…it’s what you pay them for! And some insurance companies think they are clever with their commercials advertising that you will only pay for what is necessary…DUH it’s called indemnity and it’s a contractual obligation.
