Property Adjuster Associates
NH Public Adjusters
33 Whitehall Terrace
Hooksett, N.H. 03106

Phone: 603-391-4032
Fax: 603-232-0148

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The Claims Process

Though many people have insurance on their property, most do not fully understand the extent of their coverage or how the claims process works. Here is a brief explanation of how the claims process works, what your required to do, and what we can do to make sure you are getting what you deserve.

After you discover the damage to your property, you are required by the “conditions” section within your insurance policy to do a few things. First contact the proper authorities depending on your type of loss. If you have suffered from theft or vandalism, contact the police. If you have a fire, of course call the local fire department. Another responsibility is to notify your insurance company. Your claim can be denied if you wait too long to report your loss. You are also required to prevent any further damage to your property. This may mean contacting a company to board up your home to prevent access or placing a tarp over any holes in the roof or walls to prevent the weather from coming inside.

After the initial shock of a property loss, people begin to wonder how their insurance claim will work. Though each Insurance company has different procedures, most are very similar. You will be put in contact with an adjuster representing your insurance company. This is usually where the games begin. Though this will not be a game to you, the adjuster has a duty to his/her company to keep your claim as minimal as possible. The adjuster will look for reasons to not cover the loss, or possibly deny part of the claim due to the circumstances. Many people have been denied coverage when upon further investigation by a public adjuster; it was proven there was coverage for the claim. If your claim has been denied, be sure to contact us to verify any coverage issues.

The Claims ProcessOnce the insurance company accepts coverage under the policy, the adjuster will write his/her estimate of the damages. Here is another area where Property Adjuster Associates can help. Because we represent you (the insured), we prepare our own estimate of damages using skilled construction consultants of our own. This will insure the integrity of our scope of damages. When the estimates are compared, there is usually a drastic difference in the amount of money it will take to repair your property and the amount the adjuster offers. Don’t let the adjuster tell you what he/she’s going to pay and accept it without scrutiny. If you don’t have someone look at the estimate thoroughly you could be missing out on untold sums of money needed to PROPERLY repair your property to its condition prior to the loss.

There are many areas of your policy that will add or take away coverage on certain property. There are also “additional coverages” built into most policies. These additional coverages will give you more money, often times OVER your policy limits to help you repair your property. Many insurance policies also have endorsements added onto them to help properly cover your property. This is an area that adjusters love to “forget” when making you a settlement offer. Do you know if you have any endorsements on your policy? If you’re unsure, we can help you find out exactly what endorsements and additional coverages you have.

Once you start looking to rebuild your property, there are many options available to you. Your insurance company may propose using a “preferred contractor” to do your repairs. You are not obligated to use their contractor; you have the right to choose. When it comes to rebuilding, most homeowners are left in the dark. With all the code requirements and design issues, a homeowner is often at the mercy of his/her contractor. We will stand by your side throughout the whole rebuilding process to make sure you aren’t being forced into unreasonable repairs. From start to finish we make sure all the necessary repairs are completed so you don’t have to worry about the integrity of your property.

When you suffer from a loss, one of the hardest things to deal with is the loss of your personal property. Property Adjuster Associates can help you get back on your feet. We bring in a team of trained employees to properly document every item that has been damaged. A big mistake made by homeowners is thinking their personal property is not worth much. As an example, we like to use a junk drawer. Open a junk drawer and add up the value of the items. Though at first it doesn’t seem to be worth much, once you get a total the value is often hundreds of dollars. When we inventory a property we do a thorough report on everything we find. Your insurance company will require you to send them a list of everything you lost. Let us do this for you to eliminate the headache and heartache of counting and listing every item you own.

If the damage to your property is severe enough to cause you to find temporary living arrangements, make sure you know what is covered. This area of your policy can be tricky to navigate. We can make sure you are getting PROPER living arrangements, and being reimbursed for everything that is covered. The insured is often required to send his/her company receipts to prove their additional living expenses. This means you have to catalog the types of expenses and calculate the amount you should have covered. Property Adjuster Associates takes care of this for all of our clients. You have more important things to deal with; let us take care of this for you.

At Property Adjuster Associates we understand the claims process. Though this may be your first loss, it’s not ours. Time and time again WE MAKE THE DIFFERENCE between a horrible and happy outcome for our clients. We can alleviate a lot of the stress from the claims process and get you back to where you need to be, in your home. Contact us today.


 
 
 

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