Making An Insurance Claim After the Storm

After surviving a hurricane you’re a little more than ready to just plop down on your couch and rest. Us too. However, there may be more to this “surviving the storm” situation than laying on the couch entails. What if you need to make a claim? It’s the last thing you want to think about, but it’s a great place to begin. How do you file this claim? Well, we’ve got a few simple steps for you:

Let your insurance company know. If you need to file a claim you may want to know how long it will take for them to send their adjuster out. This will help you get a clearer timeline for when you will be receiving your settlement. Also, let them know if you need any emergency services, as they may be able to assist you if you need this sort of help by sending a company to aid you in recovery, you should save any receipts so that you can be reimbursed.

Document all of the damage. No matter how small the price of repair for something may seem, take images and videos of everything. You may need this to help you substantiate your claims. Also, if you’ve used the knowledge we’ve shared about creating a home inventory, then you should be just fine with having an updated list of items in your home, their value and what they are worth, and their condition prior to the storm.

You might want to start a repository of claim documents and things that you have filled out in this process. This will be helpful when your insurer asks you for the details of what you paid for in relation to this storm, and the losses you endured. This log would have the most important dates, names, and information for all the people who worked on this recovery, including receipts and cost breakdowns.

Think about whether you’d like to hire a public adjuster. Your insurer will send out a public adjuster, they will verify the damages listed in your claim. Could it be wise to also have your own adjuster review the damages, to better understand what you should be receiving in compensation for the claims you are making? It might be, and our Gables Insurance Recovery team is ready to present our objective findings and negotiate your settlement if we see that there is a need to do so on your behalf.