
About eighty five percent of homeowners today all have property insurance and out of this eighty five percent, six percent of them get to make an insurance claim per year. About ninety eight percent of all those claims get to involve either property theft or property damage and when you get to file an insurance claim for a damage in your home, the idea is for you to be provided with good settlement that would cover for all the cost of repairs. However, what will you do when home insurance adjuster estimate too low?
Home Insurance Adjuster Estimate Too Low
Maybe you might be wondering what the role of a home insurance adjuster is and we are here to tell you that their job involves examining your property and providing the insurance company with an estimate suitable to them to pay you out. This however involves creating an estimate that would oversee all of the damages and at the same time, you need to properly document all that needs to get repaired in your home as well as what the adjuster thinks would be okay to fix all of them.
The home insurance adjuster might be employed by the insurance company but it is also possible for them to be employed by a third party organization because insurance adjusters might not be available in every region. Most times, homeowners tend to think that the estimate of a home insurance adjuster would cover up for all of their repair costs but that isn’t always the case.
In most cases, the estimate listed by the home insurance adjuster would be very low and might not be able to carry through with all of the expenses. This is when the homeowner is left in a very difficult position and if it happens that the estimate you have received for your home is very low then here is exactly what you have to do;
Have A Good Understanding Of Your Coverage
Before taking your estimate to an insurance company, make sure you have a clear understanding on how your insurance coverage is being setup. Having a good idea on how your coverage works before taking your estimate to any insurance adjuster is a very wise step to take and that would tell you if your coverage applies for full replacement or if you fall under the depreciation factor.
Talk To Your Insurance Company
Contacting your own insurance company after being offered a very low estimate by a home insurance adjuster is another right step to take. This is because they can guide you through the estimates and provide better explanation as to why the insurance adjuster came up with such costs. You should also ask if the amount can still be adjusted but the goal here is learning about your insurance process because different companies handle their insurance process differently.
Get Quotes From Contractors
One way to get a better offer is to prove that the estimate given by the insurance adjuster is very low and one way to prove that is by gathering quotes from several respectable companies as regards to work that needs to be done. If you find some good companies then go ahead to contact about three of them so you can be able to request for an estimate. Having multiple quotes would help in proving your case that the former estimate is very low.
Provide The Insurer With Evidence
After gathering quotes from reliable contractors, what you should do is contact your own insurer and submit all necessary documents for them to review so they can see if any adjustments needs to be made. This puts you in a good spot to get a better estimate from the home insurance adjuster that would cover up for all of your repairs. If they end up refusing your own estimate then there is one last thing that you must do.
File A Formal Complaint
If you have this feeling that the home insurance adjuster is treating your fairly then the next step that you must take is filing for a formal complaint with the state insurance department. This department is going to conduct its own investigation and offer you more guidance on how you need to proceed. If your case is justified then the state insurance department might reach out to the insurance company and compel them to come to a fair settlement.
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