Take a look back with us at our most popular blogs of this past year.
ITEL – Click here to read
- Why do insurance adjusters use an independent lab to test your damaged property? To produce accurate pricing for the lost items and to find the best available match for replacement materials.
- As PAs, we often see a very large discrepancy on carpeting costs – not to mention on the results we get back from the independent lab tasked with analyzing this material.
The First 24 Hours – Click here to read
- After a house fire, you must hire a “board-up” and/or “restoration” company – they will secure the property and physically stabilize the building.
- After a fire, the board-up crew will secure the premises, and the restoration crew will perform remediation – likely pumping out the water to mitigate against additional structural and other damage.
Understand Your Loss of Use Coverage – Click here to read
- Ask your agent – or your public adjuster – to explain how “loss of use” coverage is an actual incurred coverage, based on documented actual expenses (usually in the form of receipts and cancelled checks).
- Just because you’re able to rent a 4-bedroom house like the one you own, doesn’t mean you automatically “maintain your normal standard of living.” Does your “loss of use” coverage cover all key areas of your life?
Vandalism & Malicious Mischief – Click here to read
- If a property is vacant for more than 60 days, you do not have coverage for vandalism and malicious mischief. If it’s unoccupied, on the other hand, your coverage is ongoing.
- Typically, we see property vacancy in one of the following scenarios: 1. The property owner moved; 2. Someone inherited a property and has yet to occupy; 3. The property owner has multiple properties.
Understanding Personal Property Holdback Claims – Click here to read
- Depreciation is the “holdback” element that the insurance company reduces from the replacement cost based on the age, condition and item involved.
- To make a claim for depreciation, you must: 1) submit your claim for depreciation within 2 years of date of loss, and 2) provide receipts proving you have replaced the damaged item.
The Challenges of a Total Building Loss – Click here to read
- When adjusting a total building loss, we need to go back to the drawing board to recreate the building and then estimate damages.
- A claim involving a total building loss presents many challenges – a public adjuster with experience in reconstruction can greatly help to make you whole again.
Replacement Cost Coverage – Click here to read
- Replacement Cost coverage is automatic if the covered real property listed in your policy is insured for at least 80% of its estimated value.
- If your policy has replacement cost coverage, you will be getting new for old – meaning if you lose your 20-year-old roof, it will be replaced with a new roof.
