What Insurers Don’t Want You to Know - They Are So Clever, Until Caught.
In this article, we will show you the five common reasons given by insurance companies for not paying flood claims.
Insurance companies providing coverage often deny policyholders' valid insurance claims for damage or pay as little as possible.
The nature of insurance companies is to take as much money as possible from many people, looking out to give as little benefit as possible - that’s how they profit.
When policyholders suffer damage, insurers will try to deny or underpay you for the claim.
This happens to many people, especially during a calamity that affects many policyholders.
The insurers will try to deny as many payments as possible when facing a huge number of simultaneous claims.
Insurance companies not paying flood claims are always looking out to preserve their profits.
Is your insurance company treating you unfairly?
Here are five things insurance companies don't want you to know.
- If your policy includes replacement cost, you are entitled to complete replacement of damaged property.
Insurance companies may try to fix your damage in a piecemeal fashion or put your property back in the condition it was before the loss.
For example, they may try to replace only a few damaged shingles or just one side of your roof.
In many cases, you are entitled to complete replacement of damaged property.
Insurance companies not paying flood claims sometimes don’t tell their insureds that insurers must pay the cost of replacing an item, and not just the actual cash value of the damaged property.
What you should do is make sure that you know what’s in your policy and completely understand what you are entitled to, or else your insurer will exploit you.
It would be best if you had technical assistance in the form of an insurance litigation lawyer who can spell everything out to you.
- There is a narrow definition of flood damage and the burden of proof is on the insurance company.
Because homeowners' and business owner’s insurance excludes flood damage, insurance companies often claim any type of water damage is due to flooding.
If the insurance company cannot prove that the water damage meets the specific and narrow definition of flood damage, they must pay your claim.
For example, many times property suffers damage from both wind and flood. The burden of proof is on the insurance company to prove that the property was damaged by flood and not damaged by wind.
Otherwise, the property is covered, and this is frequently impossible for the insurance company to prove!
Further, under the law, if a property is damaged by something that is covered (like wind), and something that is not covered (like a flood), then the loss is covered.
If your property has suffered from both damage and flooding, you are entitled to compensation and you should not let your insurer tell you otherwise.
If they don’t budge, call a lawyer immediately.
- The insurance company must pay for living expenses if you have the coverage.
If your damaged home is not habitable, the insurance company must pay for you to live in a residence of like kind and quality to your own home. Yes, you are safe from the costs of temporary housing if you are insured.
- You may be entitled to receive more than the amount for which you have insured your property.
Insurance policies often include inflation guard coverage to cover losses to a home that has increased in value since the policy was purchased.
For example, if you insured your home for $400,000, with an inflation guard provision, and your home was worth $500,000 at the time of loss, your policy would cover up most, if not all, of the increase in your home’s value.
- You may be covered for a number of special circumstances and damages.
Your insurance company may fail to tell you that your policy covers the cost of debris removal, the cost of replacing a damaged screened pool enclosure, and the costs associated with bringing a building up to code, rather than just returning it to pre-loss condition.
If you think your insurer is not telling you everything or is manipulating your contract to delay you and try to underpay or deny you your rightful payments, you need legal help asap.
Damage is already stressful enough and you do not deserve more stress from an insurance company acting in bad faith.
Contact us and we will help you. Toll-Free: 1-281-549-8911.
