We received a question about our ITEL blog from a subscriber in California:
Q: I came across your website and was reading a blog post on how ITEL reports vary and how they don’t even use the same sample comparison. I wanted to see further blog posts on how your office dealt with that. I am in California. My Pergo flooring was damaged and my insurance company has asked for an ITEL report. ITEL sent me a report where they recommended a non-Pergo and the most basic laminate flooring from Lowe’s, which comes to $1.19. The most basic Pergo flooring at Lowes is $2.69. So, how does one dispute this?
As with any other claim, the first thing one must do in this situation is make sure you know – without a doubt – the brand of the flooring. If you installed it yourself, the best thing you can do is provide an original invoice to the insurance company documenting the manufacturer of the flooring along with the cost at the time of purchase. If the property was just built, you can obtain the building plans that show the materials used in the course of construction. Another tip is when the demo is being done by the professional restoration company, they can set aside a section of the flooring – that should have a brand name on the back. This should be saved to document the facts for the insurer.
An insured is owed like kind and quality for the current RCV (replacement cost value) of that item. If the flooring was installed by a previous owner of the house, you can remove a section of the flooring and take it to a local flooring company to identify what it is and what a comparable replacement would cost per square foot. At the end of the day, you are entitled to a replaced Pergo floor – but only if that’s absolutely what you had prior to the loss.
Additionally, it can be helpful to know what happens when a small section of flooring is damaged from a loss and it turns out that particular material is now discontinued. This is a common occurrence today. In this case, the insured is owed a comparable floor cost in today’s market, and the flooring will need to be replaced 100% on all of the continuous areas.
