Sunday 19 August 2018

How To Determine If It Makes Sense To File A Claim On Your Home Insurance Policy

By Jose Hamilton


Is there anything on the list of homeowners' nightmares worse than being welcomed by the sight of a broken-in house? Or a fraction of tree that somehow forced its way inside thanks to Mother Nature's tantrums? Clearly not. However, it's in such instances that you thank your instincts for showing you the need for home insurance Houston Tx.

Like any insurance, personal property coverage is meant to protect you from suffering a financial loss. Here's the thing though: the fact that something has gone wrong doesn't always mean you should seek compensation. With that in mind, it's worth taking a look at the factors that will help you determine whether or not to file a claim:

Take a Stock of Things: First things first: take a few breaths to calm yourself down, after which you can visually assess the damage. Of course, you'll want to avoid anything that could impede your safety or worsen matters. And if the situation requires to be brought to the attention of the police, be sure to contact them.

Gather Evidence: A few photos documenting the damage will come in handy later on, but there's nothing to keep you from recording videos as well. This is one of those rare moments when your decision to splurge on a high-end smartphone seems justified. If you don't have one, however, just borrow a camera from a friend or neighbor.

Review Your Policy: The guarantees included in your policy are contingent on the relevance of an event to the covered instances. Also crucial is the level of coverage defined within. Added up, these two form the obvious need to read through your insurance contract to see what is and what isn't covered.

Be Mindful of Liability: It's commonplace for cases involving an injured party to mature into expensive lawsuits. As such, it's recommended to file a claim when someone sustains injury on your property. Your insurer will also want to be notified as soon as possible.

Examine Your History: Ever heard of the term 'serial claimant?' This is commonly used to describe individuals who make a habit of filing claims (i. E. Several in a 5-year span). And as you've probably guessed, insurers are not fond of such cases. It's thus important to check your history before proceeding. Otherwise, you could find yourself getting stonewalled when shopping for insurance in years to come.

Weigh the Cost: To be more specific, this involves comparing the cost of recovering from the damage to the deductible defined in your policy. If the claims process will require you to pay more money than what you'd get, you're better off covering the latter out of pocket. In other words, launching a claim only becomes necessary when the damage exceeds the deductible.

Overall, the whole point of taking out coverage is to ensure your interests will be protected in the event of a disaster. It would therefore help to avoid anything that would ruin your credibility in the eyes of your insurer (i. E. Filing a frivolous claim). Otherwise, you could find yourself with no one to turn to after a game-changing event comes along.




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