# Insurance Claim



## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

Any of you guys in the insurance industry? I recently had a fire and had lots of smoke damage to my apt. I will be demanding the incurance co replace all the soft items (mattresses, toys, swing seat etc...) in my baby's room, the mattress and box spring in my bedroom and anything else that won't be able to be cleaned "as new" to my liking. My wife and I had all of our clothes taken away to be cleaned and have been without them for approx 2 weeks. We've spent about $5000 among the three of us for clothing (work and casual) to have some of the items replaced so we weren't living, as my agent put it, "like refugees". We've also spent lots on food and drugstore stuff (about $1000-$2000 so far) and plenty on the hotel. My agent told me to do what I needed to do, keep receipts and get reimbursed ("thats what you pay your premium for", he said). What should I expect from my insurance company regarding stiffing us? Is it common? We do NOT have a fugazi insurance co, we are with one of the major ones. 

Any help, advice, tips would be greatly appreciated. Also, feel free to pm or email me.

Thanks.

Rob


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## PedanticTurkey (Jan 26, 2008)

My suggestion would be to not go overboard with it. If you tell your adjuster you had to buy $5000 worth of clothes while yours were being cleaned, well, it's not going to make getting made whole any easier.


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## Relayer (Nov 9, 2005)

I would require my insurance man to give me more clear and detailed guidance on just what to expect from his company with regards to reimbursement and limitations (for hotel rooms, clothes, food, etc.)


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## Stringfellow (Jun 19, 2008)

Check your policy to see if your policy covers replacement cost. This is usually found in a rider to the policy. If your policy does not have the rider or does not cover replacement cost you will only get the depreciated value of the lost property. This will hurt.

Also, unless you have detailed pictures of the clothes you lost (or receipts) you will only get the negotiated average cost of replacements. The insurance co. has no idea if you lost 10 pairs of Aldens or 3 pairs of Bostonians (or in you child's case, a top of the line crib or a crappy crib). In addition, most home owner's policy have limits for clothes and even smaller limits for special types of clothes. For instance, here in PA most home owner's policies limit the value of insured furs to $2000 and $1000 for watches.

That being said, most home owner's insurance underwriters are pretty easy going if you home is damaged but not by a huge disaster (it's much easier to get a check for a small fire than it is to get one for a hurricane). Talk to your agent a lot! The money they will pay you for this occurrence is nothing compared to what they would like to make from you in the future. If you don't have a replacement cost rider they're not going to give you replacement cost, but they will be more lenient in considering what was damaged.


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## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

The problem is, the cleaned clothes can't go back in the apt until it is cleaned, which won't be until next week. My agent did tell me not to worry about it, but that could mean bupkis. Our policy covers us for $52,500 worth of damages...that includes the cleaning (around $4000) and replacement of goods (clothes for the meantime/mattresses/etc). The kids mattress was around $100, but ours was pricey, closer to $2000. Thats still no where near the 52k, but I can only imagine the insurance companies hire these adjusters to save them as much $$ as possible...any traps I should watch out for?

Our hotel, food and dogs being boarded is being covered under a different part of the policy. My agent said the company was looking at this costing them between 50K and 75K from the get go.


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## Stringfellow (Jun 19, 2008)

My wife is an ins. adjuster; I'm just a law student who has had to deal with ins. companies a lot. The adjusters are not out to screw you. As long as you are honest their job is to settle the claim. Insurance companies (especially mutuals but also for profits) understand that accidents happen and that they have to pay for losses. They also understand that they make their money from premiums paid, not from not paying out settlements. If you are really worried about it hire a lawyer. You don't need Johny Cochran. I can't imagine it costing more than $600 for a few hours while you give a statement. I seriously doubt you will need him any more than that.


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

While it's not the same situation, we had to file a claim when we had a major car accident a few years ago. My wife's injuries were very severe and the hospital bills very expensive. We had under-insured motorist insurance (thankfully since the guy who hit us only had $25k worth of coverage). We had no problems at all settling with our insurance company, and no problems with his company either. Our agent was very helpful, and even sent my wife flowers in the hospital. 

I think you will be fine as far as insurance goes. I am glad to hear none of you were injured, and I hope and pray that things will get back to normal for you as soon as possible.


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## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

Laxplayer said:


> While it's not the same situation, we had to file a claim when we had a major car accident a few years ago. My wife's injuries were very severe and the hospital bills very expensive. We had under-insured motorist insurance (thankfully since the guy who hit us only had $25k worth of coverage). We had no problems at all settling with our insurance company, and no problems with his company ither. Our agent was very helpful, and even sent my wife flowers in the hospital.
> 
> I think you will be fine as far as insurance goes. I am glad to hear none of you were injured, and I hope and pray that things will get back to normal for you as soon as possible.


Thanks Lax, we really just can't wait to get home. The novelty of hotel living and eating out for every meal wore off after day 2. And we really miss our dogs...


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## Tonyp (May 8, 2007)

rgrossicone said:


> Any of you guys in the insurance industry? I recently had a fire and had lots of smoke damage to my apt. I will be demanding the incurance co replace all the soft items (mattresses, toys, swing seat etc...) in my baby's room, the mattress and box spring in my bedroom and anything else that won't be able to be cleaned "as new" to my liking. My wife and I had all of our clothes taken away to be cleaned and have been without them for approx 2 weeks. We've spent about $5000 among the three of us for clothing (work and casual) to have some of the items replaced so we weren't living, as my agent put it, "like refugees". We've also spent lots on food and drugstore stuff (about $1000-$2000 so far) and plenty on the hotel. My agent told me to do what I needed to do, keep receipts and get reimbursed ("thats what you pay your premium for", he said). What should I expect from my insurance company regarding stiffing us? Is it common? We do NOT have a fugazi insurance co, we are with one of the major ones.
> 
> Any help, advice, tips would be greatly appreciated. Also, feel free to pm or email me.
> 
> ...


Rob:

I responded to you about 2 weeks ago when you originally posted this. I thought I gave you good advice. Ask for an advance $5000-$10000. They should give it to you. You don't need to clean your clothes. They should give you the money for the cost of dry cleaning so you can decide if you want to do this. If minor smoke damage then go ahead. If major smoke damage then try to replace the better items. If you have a large claim Ie:$100,000+ then I wuld use an experienced public adjust in your area. They only charge about 5% of the claim and can be negotiated down. They can save you lots of $ as well. They know what the ins. co. can and can't do.


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## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

Tonyp said:


> Rob:
> 
> I responded to you about 2 weeks ago when you originally posted this. I thought I gave you good advice. Ask for an advance $5000-$10000. They should give it to you. You don't need to clean your clothes. They should give you the money for the cost of dry cleaning so you can decide if you want to do this. If minor smoke damage then go ahead. If major smoke damage then try to replace the better items. If you have a large claim Ie:$100,000+ then I wuld use an experienced public adjust in your area. They only charge about 5% of the claim and can be negotiated down. They can save you lots of $ as well. They know what the ins. co. can and can't do.


Tony, the advance they offered me was for $200 and they stipulated that that $ would come out of something. I have a friend of the family who is a public adjuster who offered his advice to me and he spoke with my claims rep, he said that it owuldn't be worth it for him to "officially" take me on, but offered any help he could provide. As far as the damage, its minor smoke damage, but I feel more comfortable having all the clothes cleaned professionally to be sure its cleaned right...as for the baby stuff, that goes 100 fold...thanks Tony, I'll keep you posted.


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## Tonyp (May 8, 2007)

I can't believe that they would only advance you $200. You should get at least a couple of Thousand. Of course it is deducted from the final payout. It is up to you to determine what is damaged. Look at your poilicy very carefully to see what you have in the way of replacement coverage and cleaning. Insurance companies generally are not on your side. Their job is to keep the claim to a minimum.


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## Tonyp (May 8, 2007)

Stringfellow said:


> My wife is an ins. adjuster; I'm just a law student who has had to deal with ins. companies a lot. The adjusters are not out to screw you. As long as you are honest their job is to settle the claim. Insurance companies (especially mutuals but also for profits) understand that accidents happen and that they have to pay for losses. They also understand that they make their money from premiums paid, not from not paying out settlements. If you are really worried about it hire a lawyer. You don't need Johny Cochran. I can't imagine it costing more than $600 for a few hours while you give a statement. I seriously doubt you will need him any more than that.


This is being very Naive. cochran btw passed away a few years ago. He may not need a lawyer but he needs to look carefully at his policy and what coverages he has.


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