Scorching fires fall in the category of menacing threats. They’re especially commonplace in states like California. Not surprisingly, insurance companies try to cut corners with insurance claims in an attempt to save money. As such, a fire in your house is an awful experience and deprives you of your belongings in addition to your house. With a fire threat looming large in a state like California, one should pursue filing of fire insurance claims with absolute certainty– with no misgivings whatsoever.
Here, listed below, are some tips concerning fire insurance and how to avoid sleepless nights:
Single out an advance from the company in lieu of the big final settlement:
If it was a big and massive fire that ravaged your house, you must have failed to collect all your belongings in a hurry in order to flee from the area of destruction. Asking for an advance is a good idea in order to take care of essential belongings rather than having the insurance company pay at the end. Ask the insurance company to issue a check to you to cover lost belongings in the fire. Be sensible to stay within limits and ask for what is mandatory and essential rather than focusing on trivial necessities that can still wait to be covered at a later date.
Make a list of all the losses you incurred:
Get this part done before finding out that it’s too late and you can’t remember trivial-but-significant necessities in time to file an insurance claim. Do not throw away anything– keep items and receipts as evidence to get your possessions back. This will help give a more realistic picture to the insurance company.
File your insurance claim and make it snappy!
File your insurance claim quickly after the fire and get the insurance company to act fast…Submit your proof of loss claim which lists all your items lost and their values. Remember to submit the claims fast especially if there are many more homeowners whose houses have been devastated by the fire in your neighborhood.
This is the information that you will need to include in your claim:
- Date of loss
- Type of loss
- Location of damage
- Any injuries
- An accompanying police report
It is common knowledge that dealing with an insurance company is rather tiresome with many documents, emails, letters and documents exchanging hands. Keep a log of all documents and receipts including post office receipts. Make a note of all telephone calls and keep a record of face-to-face meetings.
Secure your property to avoid further damage:
If your house has been totally devastated by the fire, it is not necessary to keep tabs on the property but if one section of the house is damaged and the other half is untouched by the flames, action should be taken to mitigate further damage. Insurance companies call this mitigating damage which means reducing the amount of damage.