Homeowner's insurance claim advice

[Sangre Orange]

Anybody have any experience/tips with dealing with insurance companies for water damage (not flood damage - my dishwasher drain pipe came loose and flooded my kitchen, dining and living rooms underneath my wood floors)

Thanks,

S.O.

 

[Baboso]

1. In all likelihood, prepare for a bureaucratic nightmare and becoming frustrated.
2. If your claims agent does not meet your expectations, do not hesitate to talk to a supervisor. Similarly, do not hesitate to threaten to refer the matter to the State Insurance Commissioner.
3. Refer the matter to the State Insurance Commissioner if you have to.
4. Retain NickDanger as your counsel.

 

[NickDanger]

PM me and I will give you some free advice.

There are plenty of occasions where people are well taken care of by their insurance. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you will be a happy customer. I am going to be out of commission almost all of next week, but I really will be happy to consult with you at no charge if you need advice. Send me a contact reference and I will contact.

 

[12thStudStan]

I had a similar loss recently and have had prior experiences with some rental condos and with my parents home. Hopefully you have an HO-B policy or water damage and mold/fungus endorsements.

Here are a few things to look out for or make note of from my experiences:

1. Your insurer should recommend a water restoration company for water extraction to minimize damage. Some now use these and other contractors to provide the damage estimates and may not even send over an adjuster unless requested or if your claim is selected for a random audit. This often saves mucho time but you need to make sure that they are very thorough.

2. Don't rely upon those handheld moisture detectors that they use to probe the baseboards and flooring. They stick the probe inside the wood but that doesn't tell you whether there is moisture behind the baseboards or under the floor. I made them take off all our baseboards where there was standing water and there was all kinds of mold behind them, even in areas where their fancy-smancy gizmo said it was fine. There was significant mold under our wood flooring as well. Keep in mind these water restoration businesses make most of their money charging by the hour for fans they leave for days, not pulling up flooring and pulling off baseboards.

3. Make sure to look for drywall damage behind the baseboards.

4. Get your flooring contractor involved early in the process. Mine was helpful in getting my insurance company to approve the the removal of the baseboards and the the wood flooring in one room left off the original estimate. A good flooring contractor can be your best friend in getting through your claim.

5. If you have contiguous flooring from room to room watch out for your insurer not covering some rooms that might have not been flooded. You could end up with an unsightly transition or end up paying out of pocket for the remaining flooring if this happens. Don't hesitate to voice your displeasure to a claims supervisor as well as to your agent to get them to cover the remaining contiguous flooring. Your flooring contractor should come to bat for you here as well.

6. Check the bottoms of all your furniture and other personal property items on the floor for water damage and make sure to do it before you move the items back onto your new floor. They will probably require a 3rd party estimate for furniture repair and pay for the cost of the estimate.

7. If you have any sheetrock damage, they should cover the painting of the room that the damage is in. If you have water damage to cabinets or built-ins they should covered the painting of it as well.

My recent claim with State Farm went very well. They have an optional program where you deal with their approved contractors who are paid directly by SF. We had the water restoration people out within 2 hours of filing our claim. The flooring contractor was out the same day and the general contractor for wall damage and painting was out the following morning. The added benefit of this arrangement, is the insurance company guarantees the work performed by the contractors, so if they screw up it's your insurance company's problem not yours. I can't overemphasize how much better an arrangement that is than having the insurance company tell you "that problem is between you and the contractor you selected".

SF was calling us almost every day to check on the progress. I faxed over an inventory list of personal property damaged and furniture repair estimates and received a check within a few days. Fast, smooth and superior to claims experiences I have had with Farmers and USAA, although USAA was head and shoulders above Farmers.

My friend Nick Danger might disagree with me on State Farm claims handling practices and I don't question his veracity, but I was pleased and impressed and this wasn't my first rodeo either. They got mine right.

Best wishes, Sangre Orange.

 

[Sangre Orange]

Thanks for advice and experiences.

So far so good. I have State Farm and the water remediation guy was here yesterday afternoon. Within 30 minutes he had assessed the damage and gotten authorization from SF to pull out the floors in 3 rooms. I'm guessing if was hardwood instead of laminate, it could have been a different story but it pretty obvious that the laminate was totaled.

SF has told us who their preferred flooring contractor is (a place we know), but they'll also give us the option of cashing out and let me pick who I want or let me do it myself (uh, no.)

Still a ways to go, but not too bad so far.

Thanks again.

SO

 

[AustinTejasFan]

Blood
If you have any questions about how your claim is being handled, your coverage, or your rights under your homeowners policy you would be best served by going to the experts rather than to seek advice on a BBS board (no disrespect to Mr. Danger intended). Contact the Homeowners Division at the Texas Department of Insurance 1-800-578-4677 or The Link

The folks at the Department are experts on State Farm's new policy, they had to review and recommend approval (after many amendments) prior to it's use in Texas.

If necessary, don't hesitate to file a complaint with the Department's Consumer Protection Division The Link

And, remember, State Farm cannot retaliate against you if feel the need to file a formal compalint.

 

[HookEm]

This just happened to us. We tried to avoid filing a claim and paid the water remediation people direct....they screwed up and we still had water under the wood floors and they buckled.

We called the insurance company (The Hartford) and they are paying to rip up the portion of damaged floors and re-finish our entire house! We have to move out of the house for 2 weeks, they are paying for our apt./rental house and the movers to move the furniture. It's a pain in the ***, but they are totally paying for it all. I feel pretty relieved about the whole thing.

PM me w/ any problems or questions and I'll see if I can shed some light.

 

[AustinTejasFan]

An important thing to remember about filing water damage claims, is that your insurance company (or a new company if you're shopping around) cannot cancel, non-renew, or otherwise refuse to insure you for filing a single water damage claim. And, if the water damage is related to a malfunctioning household appliance (dishwasher, fridge, etc) you get two before they can hold it against you.

 

[buddhaguy]

What if you don't have an HO-B policy or water damage and mold endorsements?

Does that mean this stuff isn't covered (e.g., if you have a standard policy)?

 

[AustinTejasFan]

Most of the "new" policies, like the HO-A Plus, HO-W, etc include a limited amount of coverage for both water damage and mold damage. At least mold damage that is the direct result of a covered water damage claim.

If you're not sure, have your agent explain your policy to you (good luck). Or, contact the Homeowners Division at the Texas Department of Insurance. 800-578-4677 or The Link

Or, try this policy coverage comparison function: The Link