Consumer Group Gives Insurance Claims Tips to Wildfire Victims, Advises Caution

California wildfire victims are being warned to tread cautiously when filing claims for their losses. Recalling tactics used by insurance companies after Hurricane Katrina and the Oakland Firestorm, InsuranceConsumers.com has released a consumer advisory with tips on how to increase your chance of getting your homeowners insurance claim approved.

The first step is to educate yourself about what is and is not covered under your policy. You will probably need help in deciphering some terminology, and the group has a section on Homeowner's Insurance to help clarify. They also recomment content on insulttoinjury.org, a non-profit. Numerous other consumer information sites exist, and spending a little time researching on such sites is the first step, according to the consumer's groups.

Another important step to take is to hire your own appraisers, contractors, or others that will give a firm dollar figure to the amount of damage you sustained. There is a difference between a bid and an estimate. Bids, specifically a not-to-exceed bid, is what you want to submit to the insurance company. Estimates are flexible numbers that could fluctuate and be disputed.

The group goes on to make several other points regarding filing claims with home insurance companies. Some of the notable points follow:

1. If the dollar amount of your policy turns out to be too low to cover your losses, the insurance company may be forced to pay a higher amount. In this case it must be shown that the company sold you an inadequete policy in order to keep your premiums low enough to be competitive. Major insurance companies, including Allstate, were fined millions of dollars for under-insuring homeowners in order to increase sales after the Oakland Firestorm in 1991.

2. Remember that the insurance adjuster works for the insurance company, and often draws bonuses for saving the company money. This reinforces the need to hire your own appraisers (an adjuser is essentially an appraiser for the insurance company).

3. If you believe that the company has handled your claim in bad faith, you have the right to sue for your claim as well as all attorney fees, court costs, and associated losses. This could be a point of leverage when dealing with insurance companies.

The full list of 10 tips can be found at the group's website, as well as a helpful free glossary and directory of related websites. Some of the site's resources require a small membership fee, and while membership may be useful to streamline your research, you can always check with the state insurance commission and related web sites as sources of information instead.

Source:

InsuranceConsumers.com, Consumers Group Cautions Firestorm Victims, PR Newswire