How to Reopen a Home Insurance Claim

Scottsdale Insurance

There are times when you miss some damages when you first filed for an insurance claim. Some policy owners tend to sign up to haphazard inspection for the sake of getting the property fixed right away, thus missing some damages. But thanks to reopening homeowners insurance claim, Florida homeowners can still file for a claim five years after the initial claim.

There are two reasons where you can reopen an insurance claim:

• If you feel like the insurance company didn’t give you a replacement value when they should have
• When the insurer denied your claim but you feel like you’re entitled to reimbursements

Re-opening an insurance claim

The process of reopening an insurance claim may take a lot of effort, time, and resources. Before you start the reopening of the home insurance claim process, it’s best to seek the help of a public adjuster. This way, they can assess your policy and see if you’re actually qualified for such claim.

You should present the following documents:

• Records of repairs
• A copy of your policy at the time you filed the claim
• The estimate you received from the insurance company at that time

Once you furnished copies of these, the public adjuster will now contact your insurer to start the home insurance claim reopening. Your insurance company may re-inspect your home or the public adjuster will send estimates of the damages in comparison with the amount you initially received.

How to re-open a claim successfully

The success of the re-opening of your insurance claim process will depend on how solid your documentation is. You should be able to present receipts, insurance policy copy, and other documents that will back up your claims.

To increase your chances, it’s best that you do the following:

• Hire the help of an expert. At this point, you need the expertise of a public adjuster. This person is trained to assess policies and identify if the re-opening is actually feasible.
• Keep documenting. It’s best to document all the correspondence between you, the insurance company, the public adjuster, and the contractor that repaired your property.
• Never fake evidence. As much as you’re desperate to re-open a claim, faking documents will just put you in more trouble. You will be denied, you’ll be charged, and you’ll spend more money.

What are mediation and appraisal?

A re-opening of an insurance claim can start through mediation via the Florida State Sponsored Mediation. Here, you, the insurer, the public adjuster, and a mediator will meet.

The mediator will facilitate the discussion while you and the insurer present and assess documents. Take note that this isn’t intended to end up with a settlement.

However, the problem with mediation is that it’s not a binding process and it doesn’t work for all policyholders. This is why some would explore the Appraisal option. The appraiser will review all the documents wherein both you and the insurer can hire separate appraisers. Take note, though, that this method is usually used on high-value insurance claims.

Reopening homeowners insurance claim is a long process. You need an expert to help you deal with the technicalities of the process. Call Gold Coast Public Adjusters to know how.