Public Adjusters & Insurance Appraisers

Tornado Insurance Claims

Tornado Insurance Claims: A Guide to Maximizing Your Settlement

Franklin Property Claims LogoThe path to recov­ery can seem daunt­ing after a tor­na­do has uproot­ed your life. Under­stand­ing how to nav­i­gate tor­na­do insur­ance claims effec­tive­ly is cru­cial for rebuild­ing. This guide aims to arm you with the essen­tials to give you peace of mind and max­i­mize your claim set­tle­ment.

Patience is Key: Rush­ing through tor­na­do insur­ance claims can lead to over­sights and under­com­pen­sa­tion. Under­stand that achiev­ing a com­plete and fair set­tle­ment takes time. Speed might bring imme­di­ate relief but could com­pro­mise the qual­i­ty of your set­tle­ment. Speed is the ene­my of a good claim.

To that point, please be aware that it’s not unusu­al after a tor­na­do or hur­ri­cane for the insur­ance com­pa­ny to hire an engi­neer to come on-site to inspect for struc­tur­al dam­ages to the truss­es, fram­ing, door jambs, etc., and then issue a report. Based on the con­clu­sions in that report, the adjuster will com­plete their esti­mate. While this will add some time to the process, it is the prop­er course of action in deter­min­ing the val­ue of the loss.

Wait for the Esti­mate before Hir­ing a Pub­lic Adjuster: This may sound fun­ny, espe­cial­ly com­ing from a pub­lic adjust­ing com­pa­ny. How­ev­er, before con­sid­er­ing hir­ing any­one to assist you on the struc­tur­al part of your claim (includ­ing us!), please wait for your insur­ance com­pa­ny to pro­vide their esti­mate.

Most states in the South require, by law, that the car­ri­ers pro­vide you a writ­ten esti­mate. It may take the adjuster a cou­ple of weeks to pro­duce one. Still, there’s no rea­son to pay any­one a per­cent­age of what you will be offered. Hir­ing a Pub­lic Adjuster before you know what you will be offered will only cost you the mon­ey you need to rebuild your home. You should only engage a Pub­lic Adjuster once you know the insur­ers have made a defi­cient offer. This approach will ensure that you only pay for the “new” mon­ey added to our claim.

Proactive Steps to Take

  • Doc­u­ment Every­thing: Pho­tographs can speak vol­umes. Cap­ture exten­sive visu­al evi­dence of the dam­age both inside and out­side your prop­er­ty. You can­not take too many pho­tos. Work your way through all the rooms of the house in an orga­nized fash­ion. Take one pic­ture just before you enter a room to iden­ti­fy where you are in the build­ing or dwelling. Take a pho­to from all four cor­ners of the room that cap­tures the ceil­ing and the floor. If the tor­na­do has strewn con­tents through­out your yard and neigh­bor­hood, do your best to pho­to­graph every­thing.
  • Secure Your Pol­i­cy in Writ­ing: Request a com­plete dig­i­tal copy of your insur­ance pol­i­cy from your adjuster. This ensures you have the lat­est cov­er­age infor­ma­tion. Get the adjuster’s email address so you can write the request.
  • Inven­to­ry Dam­aged Per­son­al Prop­er­ty: List every item dam­aged beyond repair, no mat­ter how small, and note the replace­ment cost at today’s prices. This detailed inven­to­ry is your respon­si­bil­i­ty and is crit­i­cal for your claim. Sup­pose this task seems too daunt­ing, as it often does. In that case, it may be worth speak­ing to an inven­to­ry spe­cial­ist who is inde­pen­dent of your carrier’s rec­om­men­da­tion. We have sev­er­al who do this for us, and we’d be hap­py to dis­cuss this ser­vice with you.
  • Pre­vent Fur­ther Dam­age: Board up bro­ken win­dows and doors and tarp any roof holes. Save receipts for these emer­gency repairs, as your insur­ance com­pa­ny will reim­burse you for them. It is impor­tant to note that, in most cas­es, this mon­ey does not come from the same buck­et as your dwelling cov­er­age.

 

What to Avoid With Tornado Insurance Claims

  • Beware of “Pre­ferred” Con­trac­tors: These con­trac­tors often pri­or­i­tize the insur­ance company’s inter­ests over yours. They are “pre­ferred” by the car­ri­ers for a rea­son. Choose some­one inde­pen­dent of the insur­ance car­ri­er and who will pri­or­i­tize for your best out­come.
  • Hold Off on Repairs: DO NOT start repairs before set­tling the struc­tur­al claim. Peri­od. Avoid let­ting con­trac­tors nego­ti­ate with the adjuster, as their moti­va­tions might not align with yours.
  • Demand Ade­quate Hous­ing: If your home is unin­hab­it­able, your insur­ance will cov­er liv­ing expens­es for a dwelling of sim­i­lar size and qual­i­ty. This also means they will pay the cost of rental fur­ni­ture if need­ed. Don’t be shuf­fled off to some­thing half the size of your dwelling, as it will only cause you stress and anx­i­ety.
  • Do Not Remove Evi­dence: Leave the dam­aged struc­ture as is until the claim is ful­ly set­tled. Any removal can be seen as tam­per­ing with evi­dence and could neg­a­tive­ly impact your claim. If things need to be moved/removed, get writ­ten approval from the car­ri­er before­hand.

 

Ensuring Accountability and Transparency

  • Keep a Writ­ten Log: Doc­u­ment every inter­ac­tion and crit­i­cal event relat­ed to your claim. This log can be cru­cial for track­ing progress and ensur­ing trans­paren­cy. The adjuster is keep­ing a dig­i­tal log, and you should, too.
  • Com­mu­ni­cate in Writ­ing: For­mal­ize requests and ques­tions in writ­ing to under­score the seri­ous­ness with which you approach the claim, as this can prompt more dili­gent respons­es. This can­not be empha­sized enough.
  • Be Truth­ful: Always answer ques­tions hon­est­ly, espe­cial­ly if a record­ed state­ment is request­ed. There’s no rea­son to fear giv­ing a record­ed state­ment. It’s a reg­u­lar part of almost every claim; trans­paren­cy is vital for a smooth claim process. Hav­ing said all that, it is less like­ly that you will be asked to give a record­ed state­ment after a tor­na­do than a fire.
  • Review Your Pol­i­cy Lim­its: Ask your insur­ance agent for an updat­ed dec­la­ra­tions page to under­stand the lim­its of your cov­er­age, includ­ing struc­ture, con­tents, and addi­tion­al liv­ing expens­es.
  • Don’t Dis­card Items Pre­ma­ture­ly: Com­plete the inven­to­ry and secure approval, in writ­ing, from the insur­ance car­ri­er before dis­pos­ing of any dam­aged items. DO NOT throw any­thing away with­out writ­ten autho­riza­tion from the adjuster, as they have the right to inspect all dam­age as often as they rea­son­ably require.

 

Nav­i­gat­ing tor­na­do insur­ance claims requires patience, thor­ough doc­u­men­ta­tion, and strate­gic com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Fol­low­ing these guide­lines can enhance your chances of a favor­able set­tle­ment. Remem­ber, sup­port is avail­able. Our team at Franklin Prop­er­ty Claims has assist­ed hun­dreds of peo­ple with their tor­na­do claims, offer­ing expert guid­ance when need­ed most. Con­tact us for a no-oblig­a­tion con­sul­ta­tion and take the first step towards recov­ery with con­fi­dence.

Call Us 888–215-0893

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