Has your insurance company denied your hurricane claim? Experiencing denied claims is frustrating and stressful, especially after being devastated by a hurricane. However, many claims filed after natural disasters and catastrophes get denied. Here are the reasons why.
Not the Right Coverage for Your Hurricane Claim
A homeowner’s policy doesn’t necessarily cover all of your property. One reason for a denial is because the homeowner’s policies don’t cover the damaged property. This can be surprising to a lot of homeowners that aren’t familiar with their policies.
Some of the usual hurricane claims insurance companies deny include:
- Business Property
- Highly valuable items
- Property covered other policies
Your business property that was damaged in your home by a hurricane may not be covered by your homeowner’s policy because many home policies don’t cover business property. Talk to your insurance company if you work from home to make sure you have the right coverage.
Additionally, most homeowner policies only cover basic personal property like clothing and furniture. However, they exclude coverage for highly valuable property. This is why property damage to jewelry or antiques often receives a denial. In some cases, these items have coverage but also carry a $1,000 limit. You shouldn’t wait for a hurricane to happen to find out that your belongings have no coverage. Talk to your insurance company if you have:
- Jewelry
- Antiques
- Firearms
In this way, you can make sure your home insurance policy covers them adequately.
Finally, another reason your homeowner insurance company might deny a claim is if the property is covered by a different policy. For instance, this is true for your car. Your auto insurance covers cars as well as recreation vehicles.
Flood Damage
Home insurance policies rarely cover flood damage. However, floods are a growing risk for homeowners because they are pretty common during weather events. Even seemingly inconsequential tropical storms can lead to devastating flooding. Without flood coverage, your insurance company will deny your hurricane claim.
That’s why your homeowner’s policy needs to have proper flood insurance for flood damage due to a hurricane. You can get flood coverage through the National Flood Insurance Program.
Vandalized Property
Unfortunately, vandals often loot homes and businesses after a hurricane, which leads to more damages. Home insurance policies, however, might not cover vandalism. This can result in a hurricane claim denial. Typically, denials due to vandalism occur if you abandoned your home for a length of time.
Not Mitigating Your Property
It is your duty to mitigate your damages after a loss under your insurance policy. This means you have to make an effort to make sure your property is secure and prevent any more damage. This may include:
- Boarding up broken windows
- Using tarps to cover damaged roofs
- Attempting to dry out your home and property
As a result, if you didn’t make an effort to mitigate your damages after a loss, your hurricane claim might be in trouble.
Wrongly Denied Claims
Insurance companies must bring in out of state adjusters after a large catastrophe to help handle claims. They might even hire independent adjusters to help with the large influx of claims. Because of the excessive volume of work, adjusters do sometimes make mistakes leading to a hurricane claim denial. Additionally, out-of-state adjusters and independent adjusters might not be familiar with the policy language in your state.
For these reasons, if you think your hurricane claim was wrongly denied after a hurricane, give Aftermath Adjusters & Consulting a call. We will work to get you the payout you deserve.
