You deserve to know this before you commit insane money to having a mitigation company professionally stabilize your property. Unfortunately, it can be very challenging to get this information before work needs to begin. On the one hand, you don’t want to risk a bill that might not be covered by insurance to have the work professionally done. On the other hand, the quicker you start cleaning and drying your property the less damage will occur, reducing your cost when you have a claim. What do you do then?
Look, the only person that can determine if your property damage is covered is your adjuster. In many cases they are not even assigned to your claim for 2 days. You can talk to the person who took your basic information for the claim, but they are almost never a licensed adjuster, and won’t be able to give you an answer because they don’t know. So, you are left with three options.
Option one. You can call your insurance agent. Hopefully you understood the value of having a great insurance agent. This is their time to shine. They can help you understand your policy and hopefully connect you to a trusted resource to help you through this difficult time. If you called your agent first, kudos! They probably helped you understand if this was worth filing a claim in the first place and you are already connected with a company on their way to help.
Option two. Call a quality mitigation company that can help you immediately. They have the ability to assess your damage, give you a rough price guess on the spot, and are used to pushing through the red tape at insurance companies to get you an answer quicker. Much like your agent, they want you to have all the information you need to make the best decision possible when it comes to filing a claim. These companies typically work hand in hand with your insurance agent and your adjuster throughout the claim process
Option three. You wait for your adjuster to get assigned, schedule a visit, reschedule a visit, and make a determination. I’m not saying your adjust will intentionally kick the can down the road. These are good people. But there are a lot of claims and these folks have a stack of files on their desk that reminds you of a TV lawyer that really needs an assistant to go through 800 boxes that got dropped off the night before the big case. The good news is you can help. Get in touch with your agent, and or a quality mitigation contractor to document, assess, and communicate the origination of the damage to your adjuster. They will still want to see it with their own eyes but can explain the potential coverage if the details communicated are accurate.