My Home Was Very Badly Damaged After The Hurricane And The Insurance Company Is Refusing To Pay Anything Upfront For My Contractor’s Overhead And Profit. I Don’t Have The Cash To Advance This Item And They Won’t Get Started Without It. Should I Start Work Anyway?

When it comes to filing a claim and moving ahead with hiring an adjuster or a loss consulting firm, the first thing you’ll want to do is take care of temporary repairs. Aside from temporary repairs, you should not do any other repairs until you have spoken to a professional on your next steps. If you start other repairs, you might not get all of the damage replaced or repaired. It might not be covered after the fact. Therefore, the best thing you can do is wait until a loss or damage consultant expert comes in and advise you on the next appropriate steps of action.

What Is The Difference Between Actual Cost Valuation (ACV) Versus Replacement Cost Valuation (RCV)?

Replacement cost valuation (RCV) is the value that is going to be written in the estimate. It’s the actual cost without depreciation of certain items. If you have a home that needs repairs, you are not going to get the full value due to wear and tear after you take out the depreciation of the roof and certain issues that are covered in the claim. For instance, if you have a 15-year old home with an RCV of $140,000 to replace everything that needs repair, they are going to apply a percentage of 15%. In other words, they will deduct 15% from your RCV to get the actual cost value. Your actual cost value will be what the insurance companies base your claim on.

My Insurance Company Keeps Reducing What They’re Going To Pay By Depreciating Items In My Claim. What Can I Do?

If your insurance company keeps reducing payments by depreciating your claim, you should contact a loss consultant. The loss consultant can put a presentation together to explain what is depreciated. At some point, it will become an investigation of who was right and who was wrong. But, insurance companies will routinely depreciate repairs down to nothing to avoid paying the full cost. A good attorney and loss consult can find the faults or scheme that the insurance companies will use in trying to overly depreciate repairs.

Are There Good And Bad Insurance Companies?

Insurance companies are looking to make profits. With the numbers that we produce, it shows that insurance companies make billions off of storms. They pay as little as possible to the homeowners for replacements and repairs. Insurance companies primarily look out for themselves. They’re not looking out for the homeowners. They’re looking out for their investors and profit margins, while paying as little as possible. Are some insurance companies worse than others, generally the answer is yes. But, that does not mean that they all will not use the same tactics to minimize how much they have to pay for a reported claim.

What Are Some Common Tactics And Reasons Insurance Companies Use To Delay, Minimize, Or Avoid Paying Out On Hurricane Damage Claims?

Insurance companies will deny a claim on the basis of an estimate that does not meet the client’s deductible. They play that game. They like to say, “Well, your damage number reached the deductible, so we’re going to deny your claim since you’re not going to have enough damage to actually pursue a claim.” That’s their biggest tactic. They also like to jumble adjusters. They’ll send an adjuster to take pictures to start the claim process, then lose that adjuster and start the process over with another adjuster. By that time, they’re employing a stalling tactic. Instead of getting all of the information that was inputted, they send their adjusters to do multiple claims and put you on the backburner. Their process is not to get you out as fast as they can. Their job is to get your number so that they can figure out how to avoid paying what you’re actually owed on your claim.

For more information on Hurricane Insurance Claims in Florida, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (850) 432-7726 today.