In a perfect world, your homeowners’ insurance plan must cover costs for replacing or repairing your house if a calamity strikes. However, even if you think that you’re sufficiently covered, there’s a chance that your insurer might deny your claim.
If this happens to you, you have a couple of options.
Figure Out Why Your Insurance Company Denied Your Claim
If your insurer denies your claim, it should inform you through a written notice explaining why your claim was not honored. Upon receiving the notice, you should compare your insurance policy with it to check if your insurance company had a valid reason for the denial.
If the reason is vague, talk to your insurer. Have them explain to you directly why your claim was rejected. In select cases, a denial is due to clerical errors. This means that if you spot an error, point it out to your homeowners’ insurance company in Sandy to correct it.
Dispute Your Rejected Homeowners Insurance Claim
If you really believe that your insurer’s reasons for denying your claim were unfair, you can try to dispute the denial. You will need to present a valid reason why you’re looking to reverse the denial. Your appeal might not hold much heft if you can’t substantiate your reason for the dispute.
Preferably, you should point out specific clauses in your insurance policy to back up your appeal. It’s also a great idea to document any damage that your home might have. Take lots of photos at different angles, record videos, and list down specific descriptions to support your pictures and videos.
If a burst pipe or fire caused the damage to your home, collect maintenance, and home inspections records so you can give your insurance companies copies. This will also communicate to your insurer that you didn’t have anything to do with what happened to your home.
If you have personally paid for repairs, make sure to give your insurer copies of relevant bank statements and receipts. Lastly, keep records of all written and verbal correspondences with your insurer.
If All Else Fails, File an Official Complaint
If you strongly feel you have a legitimate reason for appealing your claim, but your insurer just isn’t having it, consider filing an official complaint with the insurance department in your state. While this might seem just a tad bit over the top, this might be the best move for you.
This is especially true if you have a substantial insurance claim. If you’re going this route, however, weigh all the pros and cons first. There’s a possibility that you might have to sue your insurance provider. You might also spend a significant amount of cash doing so without the assurance that you’ll win your case.
To avoid an insurance claim denial, however, you need to know what exactly your homeowners’ insurance covers and what it doesn’t. You may find that you may need extra coverage to cover everything you want covered or already have everything covered. Nevertheless, you could end up saving more money in the long run.
