Good Public Adjusters understand your tears, fears and anger. They won’t cut you off or walk away from your emotions. A good public adjuster will take the time to listen; they will help make your life as livable as possible while the claim adjustment is underway.
One of the most difficult and challenging aspects of filing a claim is creating an inventory list of your possessions and assigning correct replacement values to those items. A good Public Adjuster will show you how to do this – tips and tricks that will help the property owner recall what was lost as well as the best ways to figure out and calculate replacement costs. Many Public Adjusters can actually do this work for you – researching the value of particular items you lost and how much it will cost to replace them. Doing this kind of research can consume many hours a day. For many disaster survivors it is much more efficient and less heartbreaking to have their Public Adjuster do that for them.
In most instances, homeowners policies do not provide coverage for damages from flooding. However, there are particular instances or individual scenarios where the insurance companies are liable to pay, at least partially, for the property loss claims due to damages from heavy rains and ensuing flooding.
In some cases, the success of the insurance claim comes down to semantics. Did your basement flood? File your claim with the insurance company as a flood claim instead of sewer water backup and your claim could be denied. Do you have flood insurance? File your claim and describe the water damage as the result of sewer backup, and again your claim may be denied.
Understanding whats covered and whats not under the homeowners policy, flood insurance, and sewer backup coverage, will help you maximize your chances of a successful insurance claim and your settlement. Read on to find out what you need to know to recover your property losses due to rain, flooding and sewer backup.
Flooding for insurance purpose is defined as ground waters saturating into or entering a property from ground level. Most homeowners insurance policies do not cover flood damage. The only type of insurance that covers actual flooding is flood insurance purchased through the National Insurance Flood Program.
Homeowners living in high-risk areas for flooding are likely to have purchased flood insurance; if their property damage was due to flash flooding or rising waters, they will be reimbursed according to the terms of their flood insurance policy.
If the water damage occurred as result of the water entering the property from above (as opposed to ground waters), for example through the roof or open window, the resulting water damage is likely to be covered by the homeowners policy, provided you file the claim adequately, as a water damage claim, and not as flood claim.
In addition, it must be proved that the governmental agency knew, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have known about the defect, and that the governmental agency having the legal authority to do so, failed to take reasonable steps in a reasonable amount of time to repair correct, or remedy the defect. If you experience an overflow or backup of a sewage disposal system or storm water system, and intend to make a claim, you must file a written claim with your municipality within 45 days after the overflow or backup is discovered.
The determination of how the water damage occurred and its classification for insurance purpose as water damage, flood damage or sewer backup damage can make the difference between getting fully reimbursed for your loss claim or possibly having to pay out of pocket the costs of repair, which could easily run into thousands or tens of thousands.
The insurance companies do everything in their power to pay as little as possible for every property loss claim. Level the playing field by having your own team of experts to help maximize your chances of a successful property loss claim. Our public adjusters, appraisers and loss consultants have helped hundreds of policyholders just like you get fair settlements for their water damage claims.