The biggest nightmare for homeowners is when their property’s been damaged and you receive notice of a denied insurance claim. This is an emergency situation that you need to deal with as soon as possible so you can get your repairs taken care of. You need to know your options so you can figure out what to do next. What you should never do is call up your insurance company and lash out at them, no matter how much you want to. This won’t help matters, and it could lead to a breakdown in communications. The first thing you should do is remain calm. Only by staying calm can you be rational about the situation.
Understanding Why Your Claim Might Have Been Denied
First of all, a claim denial can happen for lots of different reasons. Often, it’s a result of human error. That’s why you need to stay calm and know that you do have some options going forward. There might have been a mix up with your policy information, a clerical error, or someone new on the job simply made a mistake. A polite email to your representative asking what the reasons were for your claim denial might help clarify the situation. Write an email; don’t make a phone call.
The email method allows you to easily document all the correspondence with your insurance company. Keep all those emails, because your public adjuster may need to see them in order to help you out.
Is It a Matter of Your Deductible?
If the damage claim exceeded the amount of your deductible, that is probably the reason your claim was denied. Read your insurance policy over again carefully to find out what your deductible is for the type of claim you submitted. There may be different deductible amounts for different types of claims. If you still think there might be a mistake, contact a public insurance adjuster right away.
The Covered Perils Policy
Your homeowner’s insurance policy likely doesn’t cover every single little thing that can go wrong. There is probably a covered perils policy that covers certain things. For instance, you might have a covered perils policy for wind/hail damage, or another covered perils policy for theft.
Even if you only pay one premium a month, you could still be paying for several different covered perils policy with that one payment. Again, you’ll need to pull the documentation for your homeowner’s insurance policy and review what covered perils policies you have in place. If you are unsure about how to read these types of insurance documents, your public adjuster can go through the paperwork with you.
Policy Exclusions
Another possible reason why your claim might have been denied is that it falls within one of the policy exclusions. These are itemized occurrences or events that your policy won’t cover. Hurricane events are often in this category. If you feel that your claim was mistaken for an excluded event, contact your public insurance adjuster for help right away.
As you can see, there are many different reasons why your homeowner’s insurance claim might have been denied. In any event, the sooner you contact a reputable public adjuster, the sooner you’ll be able to confirm whether or not your claim is valid.