by Guest » Mon Aug 26, 2013 07:42 am
We had a fire breakage in our house, which partly damaged the house but the contents of the house are all gone. The adjuster asked me to fill out a form with detailed information on everything in the home.
While cleaning the house, we took over 5 hundred pictures so it can be taken for granted that there were more than 600-700 goods in the home.
What I’m wondering is if I have a separate contents insurance and everything in the house is burnt up, should I just request them to gimme a check for the amount I’m insured?
While cleaning the house, we took over 5 hundred pictures so it can be taken for granted that there were more than 600-700 goods in the home.
What I’m wondering is if I have a separate contents insurance and everything in the house is burnt up, should I just request them to gimme a check for the amount I’m insured?
Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2013 12:42 pm Post Subject:
Depends on many things....
Keep in mind that there are also limitations on specific things, such as jewelry, cash, books, etc.
If you chose the amount of content coverage then no... you can only claim what you have as the policy states this is what it will pay for... up to the policy limits.
Here is the tricky part... some carriers base the amount of content insurance off of your dwelling coverage amount. In many of those cases it's the insurance company that also chooses that amount. IMHO that is a scam and I question even if it is legal (but that is another matter). The insurance company does this in order to collect enough premium to address a total loss to the home and it's contents. Again, this means the premium being charged is based on the exposure of a complete total loss. The chances of everything being a total loss it very low. So the insured is paying top dollar for something that probably is not going to happen. But the important part to remember is that (if it's correct) the insurance company came up with the amount of insurance they were providing. Now we move to the time when you have a total loss. How is the insurance company going to argue that a total loss is less then the amount of insurance that they came up with? If they argued this then they would be admitting that they charged a premium for coverage that they _knew_ they would never pay out. They would also have to admit that _they_ chose that limit and did not allow the insured to lower that limit. For example... I know I have $20,000 in contents. But my insurance company says my house is worth $250,000 and they automatically set my contents limit at $25,000 (10 percent) and charge me a premium for $25,000 in coverage. When questioned they would need to admit that they would have never paid $25,000.... but they collected a premium for $25,000 in coverage. This is #CourtFail101.
You can also have several state laws that come into place such as if you live in a Stated Value state. This simply means that there are laws to enforce what I mentioned above.
Again, if you choose the limit then none of this applies.
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 06:54 pm Post Subject: total loss
House was surveyed last year. Insurance on house raised by 30000 to $270.000. Total loss. Is Maine a stated value state lightning strike.Thank you
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 10:22 pm Post Subject:
IMHO that is a scam and I question even if it is legal . . . How is the insurance company going to argue that a total loss is less then the amount of insurance that they came up with? If they argued this then they would be admitting that they charged a premium for coverage that they _knew_ they would never pay out. They would also have to admit that _they_ chose that limit and did not allow the insured to lower that limit.
I fully agree with tcope in this. State legislatures and insurance commissioners/superintendents/administrators allow this to persist because it sounds OK to set most personal property values as a percentage of the structure value, with specific limits for certain valuables, and if a person actually has something of greater value that needs to be insured, they must still pay extra for that coverage.It would certainly make for an interesting civil case when an insurer failed to pay the policy limits on personal property when a home was completely and utterly destroyed by a covered peril such as fire or wind. How could they argue the insured did not have that much "stuff"? If they knew how much "stuff" the insured actually had, why would they deliberately provide -- and charge -- for more coverage?
If it weren't for the fact that state insurance laws really don't address this issue, and are unwilling to regulate it or enforce against it, it would have gone to court a long time ago. This is virtually the opposite analog of life insurance vanishing premiums, that were long ago banished under almost all state laws.
Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 11:28 am Post Subject:
If your house is defaced or destroyed as a result of disaster then you house and content insurance coverage will pay for all those damages and losses. Because home and content insurance is designed to not only give protection to your home but also the valuable articles inside it due to natural disasters like fire, flood, tornado and any other forms of natural calamities.
Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 05:24 pm Post Subject:
If your house is defaced or destroyed as a result of disaster then you house and content insurance coverage will pay for all those damages and losses.
It would really be good if you did not post such misinformation. Where exactly are you a licensed insurance agent?The vast majority of homeowner's policies in America exclude coverage for "natural disasters" such as earthquake, flood, earth movement (such as mudflow), Flood insurance is provided by the National Flood Insurance Program, and not by a standard homeowner's policy.
Earthquake insurance for dwellings and personal property is also a separate coverage not found in standard policies.
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 06:12 pm Post Subject:
First of all, we are sorry about the fire, all your loss, and damages.
It all depends in your policy's coverage. You should talk to your insurance agent. Hopefully, you had a good personal property coverage in your policy that protected all your electronics, television, computers, and others. Best of luck!
[link removed per TOU]
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 06:29 pm Post Subject:
a good personal property coverage in your policy that protected all your electronics, television, computers, and others.
Most policies place limits on computers and certain other "electronics" -- such as $2,000 maximum. To have "all" such items fully covered usually means purchasing additional coverage on a scheduled or unscheduled basis..Add your comment