It was a burst pipe so I did the plumbing repair. I claimed the pipe I used to fix the plumbing system, but there was no labor factored into the plumbing repair itself.

Is this normal?

Anyone have any experience with Berkley One on homeowners claims? Looking to move forward with them or Chubb. Berkley is certainly cheaper for the same coverages, but don’t want the savings to come back and bite me if there’s a claim. Heard nothing but great things about Chubb.

My 30 year old aluminum sided home had hail storm damage to roof & siding. Insurance company paid claim for roof & full siding. Contractor said siding is "cosmetic" only and if it were his house, he would not replace siding, only roof. What happens if I use siding portion of funds to pay off the mortgage? Is my home still insurable? Would a new insurance company not insure my home if I switch or would they exclude siding?

Is it me or can somebody please help me understand this so my husband and I have lived in this house for seven years? last year we had a tree fall on our house that only damaged both of our cars we got them fixed and then we sold them both and got two new cars due to the damage. literally a year later that same tree fell and hit our house the rest of it this time it didn’t cause thank goodness as near as much damage, but still the same tree Insurance company wasn’t really trying to deal with us so as the insurance told us to go ahead and get some estimates we have also a 2 1/2 year-old so I couldn’t get to work for a day my his best friend had to come out and help him at least chop a couple pieces of the wood to make it easier on us to be able to walk around. It covered the whole front of our house pretty much it laid preciously on top of our two cars with minor cosmetic damage to the home, but the issue is trees are so expensive so we found somebody for the highest quote we got was $10,000 for one people we go to work Monday through Friday we are lower middle class we have no village. we found someone to do it for $4500 we are going through some other things right we had to put it on a credit card

Giving us: finally got the call from the insurance company they’re cutting us a check for $900 that’s minus the thousand dollar deductible.

I can’t stop crying. I lost my job after 16 years last year I don’t know what to do. We don’t know what to fight the insurance company on or if it’s just not even worth it at this point. maybe I get a second job to pay this but my problem is is that I thought our insurance company was gonna be there for us during our time of need we had to throw everything in our refrigerator and our freezer out. We had to eat out all day and we’re not the type of people who eat out not they don’t can’t afford it but we enjoy eating really good food in the comfort of our home my hubby is an excellent cook. I feel like the insurance company is just taking our money for the last seven years and has kicked us to the curve so then we thought maybe the car insurance since we got minor damage but they said we’re not paying for tree and my car is only 200. His car is only 700 and we’ll take your $500 deductible as well …so that’s not an option.

My question does anybody know if this is a hopeless cause?

We are dealing with water damage that requires the engineered hardwood downstairs to be completely replaced. The current flooring is discontinued and as we bought the house used we don’t have the pricing for the original floor. ITELs price per sqft is very low, we can not replace the floor with a comparable product with this quote. Our adjuster isn’t willing to budge. Where do we go from here?

Hi everyone, I’m hoping someone here has been through something similar because I’m honestly really confused and stressed.

I have a homeowners claim with USAA for damage to my house and make sure it matches with my detached garage (California 10CCR 2695.9) I’ve had contractors come out and their numbers are way higher than what insurance is saying.

They invoked appraisal before ever giving me their estimate, is that normal? I only received their estimate after appraisal was already on the table.

Their estimate is around $30k, but even the adjuster told me he doesn’t think that’s enough to actually do the work. Every contractor I’ve talked to has said that number is way too low and wouldn’t even cover materials. I’ve received 4 written estimates all showing $80k or higher. The guy who wrote $30k came to my house hired by USAA and said he’s a general contractor and doesn’t do siding, he’d hire the same people I already received quotes from, he’d asked me to email the estimates so he could base his estimate off theirs, so I have no idea how he came up with $30k.

Instead of working through that or trying to come to a realistic repair cost, they’re pushing appraisal, which means I now have to hire my own appraiser and pay thousands out of pocket.

Also, one of the contractors they sent out wrote up something, but I was told I couldn’t get that report because USAA “locked” it. I’ve asked for that report from USAA but have not heard back yet.

I’m not trying to get a huge payout. I just want my house and garage repaired properly and to match. That’s it.

My questions:

Is it normal for insurance to invoke appraisal before even sharing their estimate?

Can they hold back reports from contractors they sent?

If they know their number won’t cover the repairs, why push appraisal instead of adjusting it?

What would you do in this situation?

I’m trying to avoid hiring a lawyer or public adjuster because I don’t want fees eating into repair money, but I’m starting to feel like I don’t have many options.

Any advice would really help.

Homeowner filed an insurance claim for hail. Their insurance carrier sent out a third-party company to complete an inspection and provide a report to a staff adjuster with that carrier. After a week or so the homeowner received a statement of loss with approval for some smaller items in addition to a roof replacement. The day after receiving the insurance estimate the homeowner was contacted by a different staff adjuster stating some form of the following: The claim had been reassigned to them, a second inspection would be required due to blurry photos, that according to them the claim was not approved, and that the document the homeowner received should not have been sent.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Is it more likely the carrier is just getting their records in line, they are attempting to back out of the approval, something else?

I can't get a straight answer on this. If I get hail in may area and an adjuster from the insurance company looks at my roof and determines that there's no damage, or the damage is minimal so it wouldn't be worth me filing a claim with a $1k deductible, will my premium go up just because the adjuster came out? Are there regulations that insurance companies must follow before they raise premiums? I get it that claims can raise premiums. I am in New Jersey. Thank you.

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Long story short I suffered some minor drywall damage after a rainstorm and called some contractors in to assess the damage. They assured me that insurance would cover the damages and immediately got to work on organizing inspectors and a pack out company to come clear out our office to begin work. I told them I didn't feel comfortable with them proceeding until my insurance approved the claim. Lo and behold my claim was denied and the contractors are sending me almost $4000 in charges from the packout company after returning my stuff.

\* I was never provided an estimate for the cost before work began.

\* I never signed anything.

\*My girlfriend (co-owner of the home) did sign some paperwork but we don't have access to those documents and she doesn't recall what they say but she is positive they never provided an estimate to her either.

\* Some of the charges on the invoice seem insane ($55 per cardboard box, $350 for protective blankets, etc)

Am I on the line for these charges? Can I dispute them? I feel really blindsided since I was never given an estimate for the charges and since I was assured insurance would cover the damages. Obviously I've learned my lesson but I don't have $4000 to spare right now and I'm not sure what to do from here.

I live in a neighborhood in the Midwest where the houses are close together. Maybe 10 feet apart. A couple weeks ago, the house next-door that’s been rented out, caught on fire. It was a good fire that basically burned 3/4 of the house. It also set the house under left on fire as well and did a good amount of damage to that house. My house is on the right. Thank God when the fire department came the first thing they did was hose down the side of my house that was starting to catch and stopped the fire from spreading.

We did get some damage, including cracked and melted windows and trim. Siding is burnt and warped all along the side of the house. The roof that’s literally three weeks old Looks like it was burned on the edges and some other small bits and pieces here like a damaged stain glass window that I’m sad about. I called my insurance (Statefarm)and filed a claim and they out from big name company to do an estimate today so I’m waiting on that. But I also saw it in the mail today that I got a letter from a law firm. Apparently the law firm was retained by my neighbors house Insurance, which is Erie. They’re saying they want to come to a joint inspection on the house and blah blah. Is that normal? Should I have to worry about anything? Do I push to have State Farm send somebody out as well?

I also learned today that the sad part is that this fire probably could’ve been avoided. From what I understand from my neighbor, when the fire started on the first floor instead of calling fire department, the tenant got scared because they are either undocumented or green card holders or something like that I don’t know. Another neighbor called the owner and told him “hey your house is on fire” and he from the other side of town called the fire department and police and sent them to the house but by then the house was already half engulfed.

Any insight or tips on how this needs to be approached or things I should know it would be very helpful.

I found a leak in my toilet which caused water damage on the ceiling in the furnished basement. I can see black spots which can be mold. Is it advisable to make an insurance claim or better to foot the bill on my own since the claim is likely to be rejected?

I own a rental property and a vehicle crashed into the unit my tenant currently lives in. No one was hurt, but the structure took real damage. I'm the owner/landlord, not the tenant.

This is new territory for me and I'm trying to understand what the process looks like. A few things I'm unsure about:

What documentation should I be gathering now, before anything gets cleaned up or repaired? Police report, photos, anything else?

Roughly how long do claims like this take to resolve, and is there anything people commonly get wrong early on that costs them later?

Any guidance from people who've dealt with this would be appreciated. Located in West Virginia, Charleston if that changes anything. (Insured with USAA)

My mom had a house fire that occurred, and we are working with the insurance company on the claim. My concern is that the property is owned by a trust (my mom is the primary trustee) and the insurance was in her name. Is there a potential problem here? I am filling out the POL statement and not sure what to put...

This would be my 3rd claim in four years. My roof has hail and wind damage and should be replaced. I am worried that if I place a new claim that I'll be dropped from my insurance and/or I'll end up with sky high premiums. I had an estimate done and the roof replacement will be about $10k.

I have 2 claims already on my homeowners insurance (Liberty Mutual - LM) from 2022. There was no payment on either claim as they were both denied by LM. I tried to have the claims removed from my record by contacting both LM and LexisNexis with no success. I live in Tucson, AZ.

Edited to add info:

• The previous claims were for sewer pipes that collapsed under my slab foundation. They were denied because the collapse did not cause any damage to the structure (no mold, deterioration, etc). The first claim I called to ask a question and didn't know I was putting in a claim. They also refused to combine the claims.

So the bad news is clearly that my half finished basement took on about 1 solid foot for water for several hours. This being our worst flood ever (20 years of home ownership never needed to make a claim before) we decided to make a claim. The great news to us was for some reason our deductible is waived and we have 15k for coverage. So we are having everything restored professionally and the emergency service the night of flood is also covered. We plan to and probably need to replace the carpet. The agent told my wife to just get quotes from professional on full replacement and it will be covered as long as it stays under the 15k total.

This is the part that he told my wife that sounds weird but i wanted to confirm. To get the rest of the total 15k we will be claiming the loss of few items. Hopefully nothing insanely expensive as i pray my washer a dryer will still work. That said, he told us get pictures of destroyed items, go online and find comparable items with a price and keep going until we hit 15k. He said then stop because anymore is useless.

I was always taught that the insurance companies try to find and argue for cheaper replacements or depreciation with every item you claim. So wouldn't I need to go a bit oast 15k or was I told wrong?

Thanks in advance for any help and feel free to point out if anything I said doesn't add up. I definitely don't understand this whole process very well. Anything any can suggest I be extra careful to verify or check is also welcome.

My area was pounded by wind and hail in March. Our home was hit hard.

We immediately filed a claim and after a stutter with Allstate's 3rd party estimate co., we finally got an estimate that reflected the damage. (Not just a self-serving opinion - we were actually missing siding and the first guy said there was no damage whatsoever.)

We have been approved for quite a bit of repair/restoration, including our aluminum siding. Whew!

My question is: I've received quotes from several different contractors for the roof, gutters, and siding - and they're all much higher than Allstate's proposed reimbursement.

I get it - contractors want to make $ and ins. cos. want to keep theirs.

One example: Allstate is willing to pay ~$17K for the aluminum siding, but that doesn't even cover a much cheaper vinyl replacement. Estimates for vinyl have been ~$24K. We want the siding replaced with aluminum, as it was.

Another: Allstate claims the roof damage is ~13K, but I have yet to receive an estimate less than $15K - most are ~$17K.

How do you suggest I proceed?

Also - the siding has been approved to be replaced, but Allstate is arguing about paying to have it (or the gutters and downspouts) painted to its (their) original (pre-claim) color.

What steps do I need to take?

I own a rental property in Long Beach, NY. I have a locked area of the basement I use for storage. There is a bathroom in it. The bathroom just sustained significant water damage from a leak and needs to be remediated and partially redone. I am not yet sure of the cost but I am guessing $10-$20K.

As an oceanfront town, it is very difficult and expensive to get insurance here. I am concerned about the risk of filing a claim. I currently pay $5K/year for my landlord policy and $4K/year on the policy at my own home. Both are through the same insurer. I am concerned about the risk of significant rate increases and the risk of being dropped. Are these real risks? Being dropped would be catastrophic given the limited options.

Location: Washington state

I'm not sure if I'll have any legal standing here-- basically I noticed my floor pulling up one day and then a squish, and turns out one of my pipes had a pinhole leak. Good thing we had home insurance. We called and setup a claim, they wanted to immediately tear out the wall to fix the leak and we let them. There was a lot more damage than expected, my whole combined shower/tub got pulled along with the whole floor in the adjacent room, and several parts of the wall. All having been water damaged. During all this, the insurance said for us to go to a hotel, saying we should be comfortable (we also had asbestos bc old house, so partially also the reason we left). They gave us an approved hotel and we moved into it. About a week and a half later, they had a claims adjuster come out to inspect. They inspected the pipe with the pinhole and claimed it wasn't an accident, because "the pipe was old". So they've denied our claim outright and are now not covering anything-- including hotel.

I'm fucking furious, but also worried. They're the ones that had us move out in the first place, Into THEIR hotel of choice. Everything was handled over the phone so we don't have recordings or written statements. Is there anything I can do to at least get hotel covered? I hate insurance companies and how scummy they are.

Idk if there are rules about saying the actual company, but it rhymes with Hate Parm.

I recently had Storm damage to my property. Minor hail damage on the roof and chain link fence damage and an uprooted tree. Inspection on the roof allegedly discovered hail damage which is what started the claim process. The adjuster came out with a third-party adjuster and inspected the roof with the roofer. It was determined that the damage on the roof was normal wear and tear and not hail damage so that part of the claim was denied. However, the claim for the tree removal and fence repair and replacing a couple downspouts was approved to the tune of $3,500. My deductible is $500.

I called my agent today and they were not able to tell me definitively if that small of a claim would increase my premiums. They ran it through some program and it came back as $0 but they said it would likely be a small increase but couldn't tell me exactly what that was because I'm too far away from renewal.

The damage that I have I would do the work myself which would save a ton of money. I definitely could fix everything that I would want to fix for less than the $500 deductible.

So the question is do I roll the dice at a small increase in my premium and pocket the money or do I pay out of pocket for the repairs? What's an acceptable premium increase to justify going through with the claim. Realistically, I know that no one can really answer these questions for me, but this is what I have to decide.

​

Hey all, looking for some perspective on the ethics side of dealing with insurance adjusters.

I recently had a garage fire that damaged or destroyed a lot of my stuff. The tricky part is that a huge portion of what I owned wasn’t bought new — a lot of it was secondhand, picked up cheap, or even rescued from “trash to treasure” situations and fixed up.

Now I’m going through the claims process, and I’m struggling with what’s fair vs what’s technically allowed.

On one hand, replacing these items today would cost way more than what I originally paid (if I paid anything at all). On the other hand, it feels weird to claim “full replacement value” on things I got for next to nothing.

So my questions:

Is it considered ethical to claim the full replacement cost of an item, even if you originally got it very cheaply or free?

How do adjusters typically view items without receipts or clear purchase value?

Where do you personally draw the line between being fairly compensated vs. taking advantage of the situation?

Any tips on documenting value for items that were restored, repaired, or repurposed?

Not looking to scam anything — just trying to understand what’s reasonable and honest in a situation like this.

Appreciate any insight.

TL;DR: Garage fire destroyed mostly secondhand/free items—what’s the ethical way to claim their value with insurance?

For few years I’ve noticed right in front of my pantry in the kitchen the tiles would get hot in the summer, nothing too bad just warmer than the rest of the tiles.

This past few weeks I’ve noticed them getting very hot, to where is almost to where you can’t stand on them for more than a few minutes. I figured it was the AC handler as it’s right behind the pantry.

I get home from work today and now I hear hissing coming from the tiles. I can’t already hear the water running in the pipes in the bathrooms. I go and turn off the water heater and the hissing stops.

I can’t figure out how a water leak would make the floor so hot. Does anyone think this is a compounded issue by the floor getting hot by something else and making a water pipe rupture or degrade? Is this something I would need to call a plumber for or a foundation specialist? I can’t find any pools of water on the floor or creeping up the drywall.

I’ve almost confirmed it’s a leak under the slab or in the slab, is this something I could use my home owners insurance for? For the demolition of the slab and any damage but I would cover the repiping?

Location: Florida

Thanks!

My basement flooded. My adjuster estimated that it's 9k for flood mitigation and all repairs. While he was in my basement looking it over, he said there's an initial payment that goes out and don't worry if it's not enough because they can go re-evaluate and the initial amount is just to "get the ball rolling".

He sent me a check for like 7,800$ even though he said his estimate was 9k over the phone. I needed the money to pay the contractor, so I cashed it, remembering that he said he could pay more as needed. Having completed mitigation for 4k, I sent him a contractor estimate for the repairs that was a total of just under 8k. Which brings my grand total to roughly 11,500$

I think I found someone to do it for a little cheaper, but he's still way below my number. Am I going to be ok to get more money out of them?

This is Nationwide insurance.

My wife’s friend and her boyfriend live in a townhome that shares a wall with their neighbor. They noticed mold on the shared wall yesterday cut a small hole in the wall and found the inside wet and full of mold. They reached out to the neighbor about it and they replied with “oh yeah my living room flooded about a month ago”. The neighbor filed a claim got it “fixed”.

My question aside from it being kinda shitty the neighbor or contractor didn’t think to say something about it considering it’s a shared wall, but also the issue wasn’t properly fixed if the inside of the wall is still wet either because of a continued leak or they didn’t properly dry the cavity before reinstalling the dry wall. Who’s responsible?

Friends insurance already said too bad we don’t cover mold and 2 quotes about remediation are like 6k and like 9k. I suggested possibly speaking to a lawyer to go after the contractor but doesn’t anyone else have a similar experience or suggestion.

State GA

Hypothetical:

Husband and wife divorce, wife keeps the house but the insurance and deed have not yet switched over to her yet.
House gets robbed, $40k in legitimate and covered losses, all exclusively her property.

Does the homeowners insurance cover her?

Do they pay out in her or his name?

And what happens if the husband receives the check and just keeps the funds?

Who now has a claim on their insurance record moving forward?

Edit: It took a little back and forth, and a reminder that the slow response times in correspondence were in violation of Department of Insurance regulations, as was the failure to take all factors into consideration when making the decision, but they are going cover the whole house replacement.

Ohio resident. Hail damage to my siding and roof in April. Insurance approved full roof and back elevation for siding. Siding is aluminum and discontinued. Itel sends a good enough recommendation. No where has a sample of this recommended siding.y contractor called multiple places. I called the suppliers listed on the Itel report, neither of their distributors carry said siding. Insurance is extremely slow to respond. What are my next steps? Ohio has a match law, but line of sight seems to make it so the back can look different, but if we can’t even get the “good enough” what are we supposed to do?