What’s In This Articles

• Introduction
• Begin the Insurance Claims Process Immediately?
• Take Pictures and Don’t Throw Anything Away
• How to Deal with the Insurance Adjuster After a House Fire?
• What Documents Are Required for a Fire Insurance Claim? 
• Read Your Insurance Policy Closely?
• Should You Hire a Public Adjuster?
• Does Insurance Cover a Fire Damage Claim?

A house fire can be devastating emotionally for a family. The damage to the house, loss of personal possessions and disruption caused by the fire can be overwhelming. However, depending on the amount of damage to your home, you probably will be filing a claim with your homeowners’ insurance company. Your initial thought: how do you handle a fire damage insurance claim?

Home Fire Insurance Claims

You should report the fire to your insurance company as soon as possible so you can begin the insurance claim process (most insurance companies have 24/7 phone lines for claim reporting). For instance, the insurance company may recommend a fire restoration company to you. These companies are experts in removing soot, ash and other smoke residues from homes after a fire. Moreover, they have specialized cleaning equipment to clean up soot and ash. In addition, they have personal protective devices for the clean-up; soot and ash can be harmful.Therefore, you should not attempt to remove soot from your walls, countertops, etc. In fact, soot and ash can lead to asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

Take Pictures and Don’t Throw Anything Away

Take pictures of all the damages to your home. For instance, property damage, smoke damage, water damage, damage to personal belonging, fire-damaged items-get pictures of them all. 

Additionally, try and save damaged items such as furniture, electronics and appliances until the insurance adjuster comes to your home to inspect your damaged property.

However, if the restoration company or another contractor is removing damaged items, take pictures of those items before they are removed.

How to Deal with the Insurance Adjuster After a House Fire

Hopefully, the insurance adjuster will get to your home within a day or two after you report the fire. Stay with him as he assesses the damage to your home. Moreover, make detailed notes of what he inspected. Smoke may have drifted throughout your home. Consequently, make sure he inspects your attic, your HVAC system and other areas of your home where the smoke went.

What Documents Are Required for a Fire Insurance Claim?  

Of course, you will want to provide the insurance company with photos of the damaged areas. In addition, you should give them receipts for any temporary repairs contractors did.

When filing a fire damage claim, your damages include additional living expenses you incurred because of the fire. For example, if you must move out while your home is being repaired, save the receipts or hotels and meals. Similarly, if you had to buy clothing to replace damaged clothing, save those receipts.

Do you have an inventory of your personal belongings? This would include appliances, jewelry, electronics, artwork and antiques. Fire damage to all those items would be covered under your homeowners’ insurance policy (up to the policy limits).

Indeed, it would be nice to have an inventory of personal belongings already in hand to give the insurance company. However, most people do not. Therefore, they will have to prepare one to support their claim as to damaged personal belongings.

Read Your Insurance Policy

If you never did, read your insurance policy after you file the fire damage claim. For instance, if the fire damage is extensive, the cost to repair or replace your home may be larger than the policy limits. In that case, the insurance company would declare your claim a total loss. As a result, they would send you a check in the amount of the policy limits.

Does your policy provide replacement cost or actual cash value (ACV) coverage for your personal belongings? That could be a big difference. For instance, you may have purchased a refrigerator five years ago. However, that refrigerator has depreciated over the five years. Consequently, that refrigerator may only be worth $500 today.

Therefore, if your policy only provides ACV coverage, you will only get $500 to replace your refrigerator.

If You Need a Public Adjuster for a Fire Damage Insurance Claim, Call AllCity Adjusting

We are a family-owned claims company with five decades of combined adjusting experience. As a result, if there’s one thing we understand, it’s that you need 100% of your claim value.

You have already gone through a tumultuous event. For this reason, get an agency that gets you more.

At AllCity Adjusting we work to ensure you get 100% of your fire damage insurance claim value. Equally important, with over 50 years of combined experience as insurance adjusters, we know insurance companies and understand where they cut corners.

Moreover, we help you build a larger fire damage claim and maximize your claim value. Indeed, we get you back to normal fast.

Lastly, don’t get fooled. Get the company that gets you more.

Does Insurance Cover a Fire Damage Claim?

You bet it does. At AllCity, we have handled hundreds of fire insurance claims.

Therefore, if you have received a low-ball offer from the insurance company, or they are taking too long to process your fire damage claim or you just want to talk to someone on your side, call us at 844.692.3587. Or you can email us at info@allcityadhjusting.com.