What to Know About the Home Insurance Claims Process

Claims · Notice, then the deductible, then depreciation

A homeowners claim pays a covered peril, minus the deductible. Depreciation held back until you repair is not a denial. This page will not invent a deadline in days.

Make the house safe, photograph the damage before you throw anything away, and tell the insurer. The policy’s duty is prompt notice. The number of days is whatever that form and that state print. A tarp is mitigation. It does not add flood coverage, and flood is not a homeowners peril. The adjuster is pricing covered damage. A percentage hail deductible is a percent of Coverage A. Two percent of $450,000 is $9,000. That is an example, not your deductible. The carrier does not have to match undamaged slopes unless the form says so.

Replacement cost often pays actual cash value first and releases the rest after you show repair invoices. That holdback is recoverable depreciation. It is not a rejection of the claim. Additional living expense pays extra costs when a covered peril makes the home unfit to live in. It does not pay the mortgage, and it does not pay if the cause is excluded. A supplement is hidden damage from the same storm, found after the walls are open. It is usually the same occurrence, so you do not pay the deductible twice. Appraisal, when the form has it, argues the amount of a covered loss. It does not decide whether the loss is covered. If you disagree, put it in writing with the company first. A regulator can ask the company to answer. It does not pay the claim because you wanted a larger check.

The filing steps we already wrote: how to file. What those claims tend to be, without a fake average: costly claims in Flower Mound. Colorado’s version of the policy: Colorado homeowners. Shop the deductible before the storm, not during it: comparing quotes.

Keep the invoices. That is what releases depreciation. Ask an agent or get a quote.