Before filing a home insurance claim, you should know its main purpose. Homeowners insurance provides protection for you, as a homeowner. This type of insurance can help save you the financial loss experienced with the hurt or loss of your home, and often, the contents within it. There is a wide array of home insurance plans available and many vary in your particular region.

If you are plotting on filing a home insurance claim, it is vital to know and know what type of claim you will be filing. The approach homeowners should take when filing a home insurance claim will depend on what type of loss you have experienced; theft, hurt to the property, or a combination of losses. The type of claim will also differ if the loss was caused by a natural disaster. Some home insurance plans also cover injuries that have taken place on the premises.

When you have experienced a theft or hurt to property at your home, you must first and foremost inform the law enforcement authorities. This is very vital, even if expensive items are not stolen or hurt. Always be sure to keep several copies of the claim for your records and the insurance company. Before heading to the police, be sure to make a complete list of the hurt and stolen items so that all are included on the claim. Only the items on the police claim will be covered. Once you have made the police claim, contact your home insurance company and always question if there are any special steps you need to take to ensure that the process moves smoothly.

For filing home insurance claims involving injuries, you must ensure that prompt and proper treatment be administered. Injuries that are covered by home insurance usually include sudden falls or injuries caused by tools. Always be sure to keep a copy of any medical receipts and prescriptions for the insurance company.

Natural disasters are also covered by home insurance policies, although you will want to make sure before making a claim that you have coverage. Some home insurance policies offer natural disaster coverage automatically, whilst others only offer it as an extra. Once you have experienced a natural disaster, contact both the insurance company and your local government to ensure quick and immediate help. Always cooperate with authorities and follow all policies and don’t forget to fill out the necessary claim forms, otherwise your claim will be denied.

Overall, making sure that you have plenty of documentation and backup is essential to filing a home insurance claim successfully. It is a fantastic thought to keep a camera handy and take pictures of any hurt, injuries, or items within the home, as this will help your claim go a small more smoothly. Also, it is vital to keep a cool head and be patient when working with the police and insurance adjusters.

1) Prepare a home inventory list now – before you have any loss. Include a description of the item, its age, replacement cost, where bought, and if the item was a gift, indicate when you obtained it. Do they best you can. You will find that on the first go through you won’t remember a lot but as you revisit it, details should start to pop back into your memory. Don’t forget to include items in the garage, attic or backyard.

2) Be sure your homeowner’s insurance policy contains a Replacement Cost Endorsement for your contents. It only costs a few extra dollars per year and is well worth it. If you have any collectables, expensive jewelry, silver, etc., be sure to let your agent know this. It may be necessary to “schedule” some of the items so there is sufficient coverage. Your policy will most likely limit the amount for various items, so be sure to question your agent to clarify other coverages or options if you want to insure those valuables.

3) You can use seasonal catalogs to help remember various holiday items that you had stored away and not recently used. This can include Halloween, Easter, anniversary and other unique decorations that you only pull out once or twice a year.

4) Use your camcorder or digital camera to videotape your house or shoot photos to document your items. Go room by room. Be sure to open drawers and look in closets. Store the video or pictures at an offsite location like your office or save to an electronic back-up system. You can use your written home inventory list as a script as you go through the house. If you know how, place your photos and video on a USB drive, DVD/CD disk or removable hard drive and then store them away somewhere safe – not in your house. Make copies and store them in a safe deposit box or a with a member of your family.

5) Enlist the aid of your grandchildren, family, or friends and have each of them perform an inventory of the items in the home. Maybe assign each a room. Have them use their written list as a script so that they don’t get too far off topic. Make it fun and take your time. Having your grandkids do it may serve as a fond souvenir of them as small kids.

6) Update your inventory annually. A excellent time of year to do so is around the beginning of the year, right after the winter holidays, as that is when you have probably added the most to your contents.

7) If you received a real estate appraisal when you bought your home, make a copy and keep it with your contents inventory information. An appraisal should contain a floorplan as well as descriptions of flooring, roofing, walls, countertops and other items attached to your home. This is critical information the adjuster will need.

If you do have a loss, keep in mind that the insurance company will apply depreciation to each item based upon the age of the item. The depreciation will reduce the amount of money they will pay you until those items are really replaced. Once replaced, you will need to provide receipts proving you spent the replacement cost amount for the items.

If you do suffer a loss of contents, start making a list of hurt items as soon as possible. You can go back later to search for prices and add descriptions and ages. It is simple to forget as time goes by. Don’t submit your list until you feel it is complete. Don’t let your insurance company rush you. They will want to have you sign off on the list before you are ready. Expect that and be ready.

In October of 2007, Homeowners throughout San Diego County suffered devastating losses of their homes. Multiple fires burned consecutively in all regions of the County and people helplessly watched as firefighters battled to extinguish the fires.

Once residents were given the authority to return to their homes, they learned the extent of their hurt. Homeowners immediately filed claims with their insurance carriers and started the long claims process. As early as March, 2008 insurers were claiming that 97% of all October 2007 fire claims had been settled. The reality is that many homeowners have not settled their insurance claims.

What is most disturbing is that nearly two years after the fires, homeowner’s losses continue to increase.

The main reason for the increase of loss is due to the widespread issue of homeowners being underinsured. Fire survivors have learned a very vital lesson. Relying upon their insurance agent or insurance company to set the limits of their policy can be a very detrimental act. Unfortunately, it is an act that only hurts the homeowner, without repercussion to the insurance agent or insurance company. If it is later determined the insurance limits are not sufficient to rebuild their hurt or ruined home, what actions can the homeowner take?

1) It is necessary to know exactly how much you are underinsured by

a. Obtain an estimate from a licensed contractor to rebuild the hurt house

b. Have a line-item Scope of Loss prepared to use as the basis of your claim.

2) Once it has been determined how much the property is underinsured by, a request can be made to the insurance company to reconsider the limits they have set. In some cases, the insurance company will make an attempt to reform the policy. This is a time-consuming process that will require the insured to answer a lengthy questionnaire and return it to the insurer. Regardless of how you answer the questionnaire, inevitably the insurer will state the responsibility to determine the appropriate levels of insurance lies with the insured. It is uncommon for the insurer to accept responsibility and increase limits.

3) The homeowner can file a Request For Help (RFA) with the California Department of Insurance. The instructions and form for this can be obtained on the Department’s website at: www.insurance.ca.gov.

It has been my experience that many homeowners have not reached a favorable outcome to the action steps outlined above. So, how do you prevent this from occurring in the future?

Be sure to buy a Replacement Cost (RC) policy. A Replacement Cost policy will cover the total amount necessary to rebuild your property, up to the policy limits. But, the insurance company will only pay you the Actual Cash Value (ACV) of the property until the repairs are complete or the property has been replaced. Some insurance companies calculate ACV by determining the amount of the RC and then subtract depreciation. But, ACV should be calculated as the Honest Market Value (FMV) of the property. This is very vital when valuing personal property. Insurers like to rely upon the age of an item to determine the amount of depreciation. The problem with this methodology is that it fails when the value of an item increases over time. Likewise, how do you address 20 year-ancient carpet that is still in like-new condition? Based upon the insurers view, you would owe them money! I suggest that depreciation should be based upon the remaining life expectancy of the property.

First – Insurers claim it is the responsibility of the homeowner to determine the appropriate levels of insurance for their property. The agent or broker will not know your property as well as you do. Accept the responsibility to properly insure your house. If you do not buy the appropriate amounts of coverage, the loss will be yours to suffer.

When shopping for coverage, be sure to provide the agent/broker with all relevant information. For example: Do you have an office at home? Do you run a business from your home? Do you have any special leisure activities or interests that includes special equipment? Do you have expensive collectables or antiques? Riders and endorsements can be added to your policy to ensure you have sufficient coverage to insure those items.

Some of the most commonly overlooked areas are:

Additional Structures – Additional Structures includes outbuildings, sheds, walls, fences, decks, driveways, pools, and other structures not attached to the residence Dwelling. Be sure you describe your additional structures to your broker. Additional structures are typically insured for 10% of the Coverage A limits. Coverage A insures your Dwelling. This amount can be increased if needed.

Landscaping – Landscaping is not typically insured as a separate category, but rather is included in the policy as an Additional Coverage. This coverage insures trees, plants and shrubs up to $500 each. The total limits are generally capped as 5% of Coverage A. For many people that live in rural areas or have large parcels, this will not be adequate to replace all of their trees, plants and shrubs. Be sure to question for increased limits if you do not reckon 5% of your Coverage A limits will be sufficient.

Personal Property – Many homeowners have leisure activities or interests that lead them to build collections of various items. Some people collect figurines, wine, vintage watches, stamps, guns, art, antiques, dolls, sports memorabilia, well, you get the thought. Most homeowners policies have limits on the amount the policy will pay for these types of items. The excellent news is there is always additional insurance you can buy to protect yourself from losses in these areas. Question your broker/agent about endorsements that may add additional coverages for those items. Most of the endorsements I’ve seen provide much broader coverage to that personal property than is contained in the standard homeowner’s policy. For example, jewelry riders provide worldwide coverage for your jewelry which is broader than offered in the standard homeowner’s policy.

Liability Coverage – Section II of your standard homeowners policy insures you for hurts for which the insured is legally liable for. This means if someone gets hurt while visiting your property, they could sue you for the bodily injury or property hurt they suffer. This coverage also provides your legal defense for the suits against you.

Additional liability insurance can be bought via an Umbrella Policy. An Umbrella Policy will increase your limits on all of your liability coverages, including those on your automobile policy, a boat owner’s policy or any other policy you may have that insures property. Umbrella policies are very inexpensive for the amount of additional insurance you receive.

When setting the limits for your Dwelling, the following steps will help you determine the appropriate limits.

1) Talk to a licensed contractor to obtain current building costs. Question what the average per square-foot costs are to rebuild your home. Keep in mind if you have a partial loss, it is more costly to repair your house than it is for new-construction.

2) Refer to a real estate appraisal or talk to a real estate appraiser to find out what their Replacement Cost Values calculate to.

Other factors affecting your coverages are:

Extended Replacement Cost Endorsements – Is the insurer offering to increase your limits with an Extended Replacement Cost Endorsement? This is the new way of attempting to increase your limits. The ancient way was to sell Guaranteed Replacement Cost Policies. The distress with those policies were the insurers found it was very hard to limit their exposure, so they switched to Extended Replacement Cost Endorsements.

One of the problems this coverage makes for the homeowner is being able to comprehend your coverage limits. You see, these endorsements typically increase your limits on all coverages. In effect, the limits will float up or increase limits in your other categories – such as Additional Structures, Personal Property, Loss of Use, Additional Living Expense, etc.

Another problem this coverage makes for the homeowner are the additional conditions that must be met in order for coverage to apply. So, not only do you have the regular policy conditions to meet, you also have the additional policy conditions for the Extended Replacement Coverage. How does this help the homeowner? Seems to me this only benefits the insurer. Wouldn’t it have simply been simpler to increase the stated Dwelling limits? You may sense a bit of skepticism, but I deal with real people on real claims and this is my experience. It is rare that an insurance company makes a change that somehow benefits the insured. We often learn later these changes have only helped the insurer.

Discrepancies on Square Footage – Some insurers are turning to Tax Assessors records to determine the amount of square footage the insured property had. Guess who this makes a problem for? Obviously, the homeowner now has one more thing to deal with. It is a rare occurrence to see the records of the Tax Assessors Office reflect exactly the same amount of square feet that is listed on the Declarations Page of the insurance policy. What can you do to address this discrepancy?

1) Refer to the insurance policy first. Your policy covers your property as described on the Declarations Page. As long as your property is correctly described, with the right number of square feet, then you have paid insurance for the number of square feet listed.

2) Most Tax Assessors Records only include the square feet of livable area of your house. This does not normally include a garage. So, one reason for a discrepancy could be the garage. Your insurance policy should include the total number of square feet for your house and should not be limited to livable square feet.

3) Question the insurer in writing to clarify to you how they would resolve a discrepancy if the Tax Assessors Records reflected a larger number of square feet than is stated on your Declarations Page. Would they increase your limits or pay more than is stated in your policy? I doubt that very much.

Insurance Requirements Under A Mortgage or Deed of Trust – Another area of importance is relative the requirements under a Mortgage or Deed of Trust. The homeowner is referred to as the Borrower and has certain obligations and requirements to maintain appropriate levels of Replacement Cost insurance.

Typically, the lender will require Replacement Cost limits up to the amount of the Unpaid Principal Balance (UPB). A word of caution – do not relay solely upon the minimum requirements your mortgage company requires. It most likely will not be sufficient.

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Any automobile aficionado who wishes to preserve their collection from unforeseen circumsatnces will invest in an antique car insurance. Regardless of your reasons for owning a vehicular masterpiece from past eras, you should be sure to protect your investment with an antique car insurance policy designed for you.

Typically, your insurance provider must classify a vintage vehicle under their antique status in order to qualify for antique car insurance rates. Age of a particular vehicle will usually determine the classification status, usually cars 25 years and older can be termed as ‘classic’, while cars over 50 are generally regarded as antique. In some cases, insurance companies may require your vehicle to be registered as an antique depending on state rules.

You can protect your investment as well as preserving a historical piece of automobile memorabilia with an antique car insurance policy. In case of an accident or hurt, with the right coverage, you will be able to conserve and restore your car to preserve its intrinsic beauty.

Rates for antique car insurance will vary depending on several factors, including whether you garage the car when not in use, how many miles you typically drive, and the general purpose for which you use the vehicle. In order to reduce the possibility of being involved in an accident, most insurers will require you to drive no more than 5000 miles per year. Using the car for pleasure will result in a higher premium than if you only use the car to show in antique and classic car shows.

Although a multitude of companies concentrate in antique car insurance, there are many companies that do not write such policies. Choosing a reputable company is not all too hard. You may want to refer to a car collectors club for recommendations on choosing a respectable insurance provider. The internet is another excellent resource, as many antique car insurance and collector clubs can easily be found. A meticulous search for an appropriate insurer can result in finding an outstanding provider to satisfy your insurance needs.

You can protect your investment as well as preserving a historical piece of automobile memorabilia with an antique car insurance policy. In case of accidental hurt, with the right coverage, you will be able to conserve and restore your car to preserve its intrinsic beauty.