Things To Do When Your Property Insurance Company Refuses to Make a Fair Claim Payment

No matter how careful you are as a person, life has its way of throwing you curveballs when you least expect it. Most of the time, you can’t really do anything about it, and you will just have to play the hand you are dealt. Still, it is always best to be prepared and have contingencies in place, namely, insurance policies.

Property insurance is particularly important if you live in a place where there is a high probability of floods, hurricanes, wildfires, or any other natural disasters that might jeopardize your home. Such a plan could save you a lot of money after a disaster, and you will be able to rebuild your life again.

But what do you do if your property insurance company refuses to pay a fair claim payment? 

Understand how they work

It is very important that you make an effort to understand how insurance companies work before doing anything else. Those companies work for the sake of profit, and you have to know how to get around that to get a fair claim. They obviously don’t want to pay you a lot of money, and they will do everything in their power to stop that from happening. Your first weapon to getting what you really deserve is learning how they operate so you could take proper action. 

These people owe you for the money that contractors would charge you to rebuild your home, but they work according to certain pricing guidelines, and they also have their own software and techniques to come up with an estimate of how much it would cost to repair the damage to your home.

But local contractors don’t exactly care about the insurance’s approach and estimates; they will give you an actual quote, and this is the closest thing to reality you’ll ever get. So, make sure to get different quotations and be prepared to show them to your insurers. 

Threatening  

Well, this isn’t actually personally threatening them or anything, but rather threatening their profits. As we mentioned earlier, insurance companies care about profit more than anything and implying you might be suing for money that would compromise that definitely gets you their attention. You will need a lawyer specialized in this kind of insurance to claim for this type of case, though, and not just any lawyer.

They will be able to help you get a fair payment that can help you rebuild or repair your home. Lawyers who handle these kinds of cases for a living usually know all the ins and outs of such intricate claims, and they are also familiar with all the tricks that insurance companies might have up their sleeve, so they will definitely help you make the most out of your claim.

Document everything 

This is something that you need to do both before and after your property gets damaged. You have to keep receipts of everything you bought, especially the more expensive items that would cost you a lot of money to replace –– anything from electrical appliances to fancy floors. You also will need to document your property damage after the incident so you could make a proper claim.

This kind of evidence will help you prove the value of what you have lost, and it will make it very difficult for an insurance company to try and scam you out of fair compensation. Needless to say, you need to keep all records –– video or paper –– of the value of your property in a safe location, preferably outside your place and hidden somewhere in a safe. 

Watch out for delays

An insurance company will go out of their way to try and delay the process as much as possible, in the hopes that you would get tired and settle for any money they offer eventually. It is crucial that you don’t let that happen. If you get the feeling that they are stalling you, then you need to file a lawsuit immediately to sue for fair compensation. This brings us again to the importance of hiring specialized attorneys who will know if the insurance company is trying to stonewall you and they will take the necessary actions to make them worry about their profits. 

The most important part of this whole process, though, is knowing your rights. You have to know what exactly your insurance policy entails, and what you are entitled to. This will make it so much more difficult for the insurance company to try and offer you an unfair settlement, especially if you have a competent attorney on your side advising you on the proper course of action.