If your property was affected by a natural disaster and you had a home and/or flood insurance policy, you may file an insurance claim to determine whether you have coverage for your damages. Community Legal Services can help you file a claim and explain the insurance coverage options that are available to you to help you avoid costly mistakes and delays as you put your life back in order.
If a storm or flood damaged your home, we can help you understand your coverage, file an insurance claim, and avoid delays so you can start rebuilding soone
What Are Your Rights?
- If your home is insured for $300,000 and you have a 2% hurricane deductible, you must pay $6,000 before insurance starts covering hurricane-related damages.
- Trigger: Can be applied to tropical storms, tropical depressions, or even severe thunderstormsdepending on the policy language. Sometimes it’s tied to any “named storm” (even if not a hurricane).
- Scope: Broader than hurricane deductible, because it doesn’t require hurricane status.
- Your home is insured for $250,000 with a 2% windstorm deductible and a tropical storm (not a hurricane) blows the shingles off your roof, your deductible is $5,000.
You are entitled to benefit from the coverage detailed in your property insurance policy. Notify your insurance company that you need to file a claim. Ask how long it will take for an insurance adjuster to visit your home. The insurance adjuster is the person who will inspect the damage and help you arrive at a settlement amount.
It is likely that you will need to contact more than one insurer after a disaster. For instance, buildings or personal belongings damaged by flooding are covered only by flood insurance. Wind damage may be covered by your homeowner’s insurance or a separate windstorm policy. If your car was damaged, you’ll need to make a claim on your comprehensive auto coverage.
Review your insurance policy and become familiar with the coverage you had in place at the time of the disaster. Keep a copy of your policy in a safe place for your records.
A hurricane deductible is the amount you must pay out of pocket before your insurance coverage kicks in for damage caused by a hurricane. Unlike a standard deductible (a fixed dollar amount, like $1,000), hurricane deductibles are usually a percentage of your home’s insured value—commonly 2%, 5%, or 10%.
For example:
Still not sure whether the hurricane deductible should apply to you – call our helpline?
A windstorm deductible applies to wind or hail damage from any strong storm, whether it is a hurricane or not.
Structure: May also be a percentage of the home’s insured value, but in some policies it’s a flat dollar amount.
For example:
Call our helpline if you’re not sure whether a windstorm or hurricane deductible should apply to you.
You should never pay a hurricane deductible on your insurance policy more than once during a calendar year, even if you experience damage from multiple disasters within the same calendar year.
As of January 1, 2023, Florida law largely banned AOB contracts for property insurance (for homeowner’s, renter’s, condo, etc.).
Now, contractors can’t use an AOB to take over your rights under a property insurance policy.
Homeowners can still authorize a contractor to communicate with the insurer, but the homeowner keeps control of the claim.
Call our helpline if you are dealing with an AOB signed before January 1, 2023 or someone is asking you to sign an AOB now.
What Do You Need to Do?
Thoroughly review your insurance policy to be sure that you understand the policy, including your coverage, deductibles, and your responsibilities after the damage occurred. Contact your insurance company as soon as possible to file a claim for any property loss or damage suffered after a disaster.
If you need urgent repairs, such as removing flood water or fixing downed electrical wiring, tell your insurance company immediately. They may send a company to your property to take care of the emergency service. Save any receipts on expenses for repairs so that your insurer can reimburse you.
Make an inventory of any damaged items and gather all evidence to support your damage claim, such as pictures of the property damage, receipts for work done on your home, detailed contractor estimates, and an itemized list of personal property and costs. You can even take pictures of your receipts to prevent loss or damage as you track the progress of your claim.
Keep a record of your claim number for your reference.
Make only emergency or temporary repairs, such as placing a tarp on your roof to prevent further damage to your roof or the inside of your house. Keep all receipts for these temporary repairs.
Do not discard any damaged items without prior approval from the insurance company.
After you contact your insurance company to report the damage, an adjuster will be assigned to your claim. Set up a time for the adjuster to inspect the damages. Be at your property when the adjuster arrives.
Make a list of any questions you would like to ask the adjuster. Ask questions about the extent of damage seen by the adjuster or possibly even pointing out damage that may have been missed by the inspector.
Once the damage is assessed, the adjuster will send the report to the claim examiner. The claim examiner will contact you as the homeowner to discuss options and estimates for repairs.
As you wait, you might get unsolicited offers from contractors to repair your property damage or clear debris right away. These may be unlicensed contractors or wrongdoers looking to take a quick payment and never return. To be safe, refuse any contracting work that you don’t request.
Check out our additional information about how to deal with contractors.
Your insurance company will notify you once your claim has been processed and your settlement offer is ready. If you’re satisfied, your insurance company will issue you a check. In some cases, construction companies arrange for the insurance company to pay them directly. Make sure you’re happy with any work that’s been done before you authorize payment.
If you notice any new hurricane-related damage, don’t hesitate to reopen a claim. Typically, people have up to a year after the original damage occurs to file additional claims.
What to Consider Before Taking Action
Immediately following a loss, you are required under your insurance policy to make any temporary repairs to prevent further damage from occurring.
But do not make any permanent repairs yourself.
Do not make permanent repairs before an inspection by the insurance company adjuster. The insurance company has a right to inspect your damage prior to permanent repairs.
When multiple payouts are received for the same damage that was claimed to FEMA and your insurance company, a “duplication of benefits” has occurred. If you receive money from FEMA before receiving a decision on your insurance claim or before receiving a payout from your insurance company, then you must pay back the money you received from FEMA after receiving money from your insurance claim. For example, if FEMA provided you money to repair damages to your roof and your insurance company later approves your claim and provides you money for the same roof damage, then a duplication of benefits has occurred. You will need to pay back the money that you received from FEMA.
For claims that do not involve flood damage, the insurance company usually pays for a claim only after investigating the damage and approving the claim. But with flood insurance, your insurance company may choose to pay you in advance – before an adjuster visit or additional documentation. These amounts may range from up to $5,000 when there is no documentation of the damage and up to $20,000 when photos, videos, receipts, or estimates are available for the damage.