Storm damage can include fallen trees, debris, damaged roof, basement flooding – these are just obvious examples.
Unfortunately the full extend of storm damage is frequently difficult to assess by the home owner. Structural damage to your property and water ingress are not immediately visible, but can manifest sometimes months after the claim has been settled and your file closed.
Many people assume they are automatically covered if their roof is leaking. In fact this is not the case and the policy wording is often open to interpretation by insurers.
With roof damage there are as many policy exclusions (wear & tear, bad design, bad workmanship, gradual deterioration, bad construction techniques etc.) as inclusions, with the burden of proving storm damage weighed heavily on policyholders.
What to do if you suffered Storm Damage?
1. Assess safety
If you suffered from storm damage, you need to make sure first that the property is safe to occupy.
You should contact Insurance Claim Solutions as soon as possible to assess if there is any structural damage and if you can occupy the property while is being cleaned up and repaired.
2. Assess damage and make sure you are covered
As soon as the safety aspects are dealt with, we assess the rest of the damage, check your policy for any exclusions and limitations.
The immediate actions you take after suffering storm damage are very important and will determine the outcome of your claim. If temporary repairs are carried out, the original damage must be documented with full reports and photos to prove that the roof was damaged by storm. We take pictures and make sure that there re proper records of all repairs carried out
3. File an insurance claim
We notify your insurer about the loss, meet with your insurer’s Loss Adjuster and complete all paperwork required to process the claim.
Having a professional person handle your claim, can make a world of difference. Loss Adjusters tend to minimise the losses of their employers (they are employed by your insurers) and they often exclude items where the damage is not immediately obvious.
We make sure that the Loss Adjuster had done a proper assessment and that nothing was overlooked.
4. Negotiate settlement
We use our experience and expertise to negotiate the best possible settlement and ensure that you are not short changed by your insurers. We are insurance claim experts, so we are generally able to negotiate a much better compensation than you can.
We also make sure that there are no reasons for a delay in paying out your compensation (another tactic frequently used by the insurers to make you accept a lower settlement).
