Sunday, January 29, 2023
How To Avoid A Burst Pipe Insurance Claim 6 Proven Tips | Claimsmate Public Adjusters
Watch on YouTube here: How To Avoid A Burst Pipe Insurance Claim 6 Proven Tips | Claimsmate Public Adjusters
Via https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcZImr64sN4bR4BB_JA82vg/videos
Monday, July 18, 2022
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Top 5 Reasons Not to Handle Your Own Insurance Claim
For medium and large-sized insurance claims, you could leave money on the table by handling your own claim.
Here are the top 5 reasons not to handle your own insurance claim.
1) You Need to Handle Mountains of Confusing Paperwork
A major insurance claim involves seemingly endless paperwork.
Most insurers use this paperwork to create a clear paper trail, making it easy to track your claim from start to finish and verify all losses.
Other insurers, however, may use this paperwork to overwhelm policyholders, delay payouts, and make the claim much harder than it needs to be. They might design their paperwork to be confusing, and then overwhelm you with paperwork to deliberately weaken your resolve.
Some insurers know homeowners get so frustrated with paperwork and documentation that they will eventually accept a lower settlement.
Insurance paperwork is hard: you don’t just sign a form and send it back to your insurer; instead, you need to fill out forms accurately and with the right information to ensure you receive maximum payout for your claim.
Some of the paperwork required on a major insurance claim may include:
- Detailed building restoration estimates
- A complete inventory of home property, including the value of the property, how much you paid for it, brand, makes, models, and more
- Additional documentation to prove your claim
Do you know the number of coffee cups you have in your home? Do you know what you paid for your 10-year old couch? Do you have receipts for every high-value item in your home?
All of this documentation takes time. And, a single mistake could jeopardize your claim or leave you with thousands in lost compensation.
2) You Need to Spend Time Researching, Verifying, and Managing the Claim
A major insurance claim takes time. You need to spend time documenting the claim, researching repair and restoration options, comparing contractor quotes, and managing the loss from start to finish.
Even if you don’t have a full-time job, these hours can add up. They’re frustrating hours, too: you’re spending a significant amount of time looking up what each form means, for example, and how to best complete each document from your insurance company.
3) You Need Experience (Or Hours of Additional Research Time)
If you’re lucky, you’ll only deal with one or two major home insurance claims in your entire life.
You don’t want to have experience with major home insurance claims. It’s a bad thing, because it means you’ve suffered multiple serious losses (and likely pay higher home insurance premiums).
Most homeowners don’t have sufficient experience to handle a major insurance claim. Sure, you can research everything you need to, but it takes hours of additional time.
Unfortunately, your insurance company may take advantage of your lack of experience. They might offer a payout hundreds of dollars less than you are rightfully owed, for example, because they know you don’t know the difference.
4) You Don’t Know What to Claim, How Much to Claim, or When to Push Back Against Greedy Insurers
Most homeowners don’t know what damages are covered under their policy. They don’t know what damages are excluded, for example, and they don’t know how to maximize the value of their claim.
It’s not their fault: homeowners aren’t property insurance experts, and they’re not expected to be.
However, insurers might expect homeowners to push back against claims. They might initially offer a lowball amount, for example, because they expect that you may fight back.
If you’re handling your own claim instead of letting the professionals handle it, then you likely don’t know when and where to fight back, which could leave thousands of dollars in compensation on the table.
5) It’s Likely You’ll Get Paid Less
Studies show homeowners who hire public adjusters tend to get higher compensation than homeowners who manage their own insurance claim.
If you try to manage your own major insurance claim, you could get paid significantly less by your insurance company.
Some insurers take advantage of your inexperience and naivety, for example. Others don’t point out additional damages you can claim.
Remember: insurance companies aren’t charities; they’re for-profit businesses that typically want to close your claim as cheaply as legally possible.
Hire a Public Adjuster for Professional Insurance Claim Help
Most homeowners aren’t insurance experts.
It’s not your fault: most homeowners only go through one major claim in their entire lives.
Instead of risking tens of thousands of dollars, however, consider hiring a professional to help navigate your insurance claim.
A good public adjuster has years of experience handling hundreds of insurance claims. They know what information insurers need, and they know how to build your claim to secure the highest possible amount of compensation.
Plus, public adjusters work on contingency, which means you don’t pay until you accept your insurer’s final settlement, which could be 300% higher than the payout initially offered.
Don’t risk it: hire a public adjuster today for your major home or business insurance claim.
Article Here: Top 5 Reasons Not to Handle Your Own Insurance Claim
Friday, July 1, 2022
Thursday, June 30, 2022
Insurers Use Managed Repair Clauses to Reduce Claim Payouts
Managed repair clauses could allow an insurer to take advantage of you, reducing the cost of claims and paying you less than you deserve. Today, we’re explaining everything you need to know about managed repair clauses and how they work.
How Managed Repair Clauses Work
Managed repair clauses give the insurance company greater say into who repairs your home.
Under a traditional insurance system, your insurance company pays money after a loss based on the estimated cost of repairing the damage.
If a fire causes $20,000 of damage to your kitchen, for example, then your insurer gives you $20,000, minus your deductible, and you repair your kitchen with the contractor of your choice.
Managed repair clauses work differently. With a managed repair clause, the insurance company has a “right to repair” the property and decide who performs repairs – and how those repairs are performed.
Why Managed Repair Clauses Are Bad for Homeowners
Managed repair clauses are not good for homeowners.
They take power away from homeowners during the repair process, putting more power in the hands of insurance companies who may only care about their bottom line.
Instead of making your own decisions about the repairs, you lose that power to the insurance company.
The insurance company takes full responsibility for the repair process, communicating directly with the contractor to complete repairs.
That may sound like a good thing, and many insurers claim it is a good thing. However, it adds significant risk to the home repair process, and it could lead – and has led – to many serious home repair issues.
Risks of Managed Repair Clauses
Some of the risks of managed repair clauses include:
- Substandard repairs
- Partial repairs or shortcuts (like resurfacing damaged materials instead of repairing or replacing damaged materials)
- Lack of control by the homeowner over how repairs and performed and by which contractor
- Lost time while the homeowner stays home to monitor repairs instead of enjoying quality repairs from a trusted contractor
- Unlawful repairs performed by unlicensed or inexperienced contractors (or contractors without permits)
- Lack of recourse for shoddy repairs or unsatisfactory repairs
- Long wait times for specific contractors, especially after a major disaster
Insurers Have Been Caught Exploiting Managed Repair Clauses for Profit
Insurers may claim managed repair clauses are good for homeowners, but they’ve been caught plenty of times exploiting these clauses for profit.
According to an ABC News report, insurers in Florida advertise managed repair clauses as a way to avoid fraud, yet many homeowners complain about problems with the managed repair process.
- One Florida homeowner watched his insurer’s recommended contractors repair his home, only to have the new flooring buckle within months of installation
- That same family found mold and structural problems in the area where repairs were performed; the insurer denies the issues are related to repairs, despite the issues only being found in the area of the home where the contractor performed repairs
- Other Florida homeowners have accused insurers and their contractor partners of short cutting repairs
- The problem has become so bad that one attorney is leading a lawsuit with ten families who blame managed repair clauses for shoddy repair work
In another famous case, a homeowner in Pensacola, Florida was unable to repair his home for seven months because of the insurer’s managed repair clause. That man’s insurer required him to use a specific contractor to repair his home, and that contractor was unavailable for seven months.
Managed Repair Clauses Could Help Avoid Fraud
Managed repair clauses aren’t always a bad thing. Some insurers use managed repair clauses to genuinely help homeowners avoid fraud.
After disaster strikes a region, contractors of all qualities may approach homeowners offering to perform repairs. Some contractors are unlicensed. Others are unqualified. Some offer to take over your claim. Some even offer to pay your deductible.
Many of these contractors are often not reputable, and they may not perform the necessary repairs on your home.
Managed repair clauses and right to repair clauses are designed to give the insurer greater control over which contractor repairs your home. In an ideal world, the insurer chooses a high-quality, trusted contractor with a proven track record of performing repairs. Read more about insurance company preferred contractors here.
In practice, unfortunately, the managed repair clause system has led to plenty of issues preventing homeowners from accessing the repairs they need.
Final Word on Managed Repair Clauses
A growing number of insurers, particularly insurers in Florida, use managed repair clauses to reduce payouts and control the repair process.
Remember: insurers are for-profit businesses dedicated to their bottom line. If they find a way to save money on insurance claims, they’ll likely take advantage.
Managed repair clauses may sound like a good idea. In practice, however, they’ve led to serious problems with repairs.
Check your insurance policy for a managed repair clause. Generally, it’s not a good idea to have a managed repair clause in your policy.
See More Here: Insurers Use Managed Repair Clauses to Reduce Claim Payouts
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