Filing a Home Insurance Claim
What’s the process for filing a home insurance claim?
Immediately following a loss, contact your agent or call claim service team. You should also:
- Take pictures of all damage and complete temporary repairs to your property immediately—for example, patching walls or roofs, or covering shattered windows with plywood and/or heavy-duty plastic.
- Save invoices and receipts associated with any emergency repairs to give to your claim adjuster.
- File a report with the police department and keep a copy for your adjuster if you’ve been robbed, making sure to include a detailed list of the items stolen or damaged.
- Make a room-by-room, written assessment of all damaged property, including original costs, descriptions, and approximate ages of all items.
Once you’ve reported your claim, a claim specialist will usually contact you within 24 hours. The claim specialist will review your claim, help organize emergency services and temporary repairs, and set a date for inspecting the damages.
In the event of a covered loss, you will first receive actual cash value for the damage to your property. When you replace the item or complete the specified repairs, you will then be paid the difference between the replacement cost and the actual cash value amount previously paid. The total amount you’re reimbursed is subject to the terms and conditions of your particular policy, including your limits and deductibles.
You’ll receive a settlement check as soon as your coverage and been confirmed, investigation and comprehensive damage estimate are completed. If necessary, you’ll receive other authorized supplemental checks once proper re-inspections are performed or when your claim adjuster prepares a supplemental estimate. It may be required by policy language and state laws to include any mortgagees/ lien holders on your settlement check(s). If a mortgagee/lien holder’s name appears on your settlement check(s), they must sign off on the check before you can be cash it. You should contact them directly to determine the process for cashing settlement checks.
