Claim Assistance Checklist

The following checklist will help you to better understand how your insurance coverage can help you recover from your loss.  It should also assist you in organizing and presenting your insurance claim in a manner that will help both you and us to more quickly settle your claim.

Your Claim's Adjuster:  ________________________   Adjuster's Phone Number:  _____________

Your Claim Number:  _____________   Your Policy Number:  _________________

oAdditional Living Expense Coverage:  This is often one of the first and most important issues to address after a covered loss.  If your policy provides coverage for Additional Living Expense (ALE) and your household is now unfit to live in, we can help you with the increase in living costs you incur to maintain your normal standard of living.  Temporary housing, such as a motel, apartment or perhaps living with a friend or relative, will need to be arranged until such time that you can move back into your repaired or re-built home.  This coverage will pay for costs over and above what you normally incurred prior to the covered loss.  For example, if you normally fed your family for $20.00 a day in groceries, and now you must pay $30.00 a day, you will be reimbursed $10.00 per day.  The same rule applies to all other living expenses.  Certain types of costs may be excluded, and their may be a time limit involved.  KEEP ALL RECEIPTS THAT WILL DOCUMENT YOUR ALE CLAIM.

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oActual Cash Value or Replacement Cost Coverage?:  It is important to understand this basic part of your insurance coverage. If you carry Actual Cash Value Coverage, then you will be paid for what the item was actually worth at the time of the covered loss.  For example, if you owned a 10 year old refrigerator that would cost $500.00 to replace today, then the Actual Cash Value of that item may have been only $150 at the time of the covered loss.  This is also called the depreciated value. 

If you have replacement cost coverage then your policy will pay for replacement of items with new, like kind and quality items.  However, you will only receive the full replacement cost after the item has been replaced.  Until that item is replaced, you will be paid the Actual Cash Value of the item.  You get reimbursed the full replacement value only after the item is actually replaced.

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oHome Reconstruction:  A contractor will have to be located to repair or re-build your home.  We can assist you in locating a contractor, but it is vitally important that this contractor be one that in your mind is competent and trustworthy.  We may be able to suggest a contractor, but in the end it must be you who chooses the contractor.  We will work to negotiate reasonable repair costs with this contractor.

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oContents Damage Inventory:  This part of your claim is often considered the most tedious and bothersome part of a covered claim, with good reason.  You will have to inventory every piece of personal property that was damaged or destroyed and that is being presented as part of your claim.  This may or not be a job you will want to jump into on the same day as the loss, or even for several days after the loss.  In the end though, it is something that will need to be done.  What follows are some suggestions that may help you get an organized list of your damaged contents together:

• Contents Loss Worksheet -  We will provide you with a form to use to inventory your personal property.  If you are handy with a computer then we can provide you with a form you can fill out on the computer. (Tip:  If your computer was damaged or destroyed, this may be one of the first things you want to replace.  They can be helpful in keeping your claim organized)

• One person in charge – Assign one person to prepare the inventory.  If you ask each family member to do their own room you will probably end up with duplications in the inventory.  However, the person in charge should not hesitate to ask for help in remembering what to list.  Other family members can approach the person in charge and ask that person if they remembered to claim certain items on the inventory.

• Try to relax – This is not something that needs to be done right away.  It may take an hour or two a day for several weeks to properly complete the inventory.

• One room at a time – Try to concentrate on the contents of only one room at a time.  Perhaps start with the kitchen or a bedroom.  Then think of one piece of furniture at a time, and then maybe one drawer at a time.  Start with a top dresser drawer and move your way down.  Stay focused on that one room until you feel you have covered the contents of the entire room.

• Keep a notebook with you – As you think of things to list, jot them down in a notebook.

• Complete all information on the form – Most importantly, we will need to know the name of the item, the quantity of the item, the replacement cost of the item (what it costs today to buy new) and the age of the item.  If you know where you originally bought the item then please indicate that as well.

• Please make the form legible – If we cannot read the form, or if it is not complete when it is submitted to us, this is going to cause frustration both for you and for us.  We will probably be calling you and asking that you give us more information.  We simply cannot figure out what we owe you for your personal property unless the form is legible and complete.

v     A special note about smoke damaged clothing – Sometimes smoke damaged clothing can be cleaned and sometimes it cannot be cleaned.  In certain cases, the cost of cleaning this clothing exceeds the value of the items.  It is important that you and your adjuster discuss how the damaged clothing portion of your claim will be handled.  We can assist you in finding a dry cleaning vendor experienced with smoke damaged clothing.  It may also be possible to negotiate compensation to you for your time and expense in cleaning your own clothing.  There are special detergents formulated to remove smoke odor, and we can help you acquire those detergents.

We may ask you to provide receipts for some of the items claimed.  We would ask for the original receipts, not the receipts for the replacement items.

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oSalvage:  There will most likely be items that were damaged by the loss but not destroyed.  These are items that you will be paid for according to your policy coverages.  In effect, we are buying these damaged items from you.  We then have the right to take possession of these salvage items and sell them in an effort to reduce the cost of your claim.  This is standard and accepted insurance industry practice.  Insurance salvage is a good way for us to reduce the cost of your claim and thereby reduce the cost of insurance for all of our policyholders.

Use the following notation section to document what you and the adjuster have talked about in regards to salvageable property.  If there are items which the adjuster has requested that you retain and protect, please list them here.  If, in the future, you find items that may be of salvage value, please contact the adjuster to discuss.  DO NOT throw anything away unless it is agreed that there is no salvage value to that item.

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oDebris Removal:  Your policy may provide coverage for debris removal.  This would involve the costs to remove the damaged or destroyed property from your land and to dispose of it properly. Your adjuster will work with you to find a competent debris removal contractor and to negotiate a reasonable fee.

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oCash Advance:  If the situation warrants, the adjuster may be able to provide you with a cash advance to cover emergency expenses and initial Additional Living Expenses.

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oCoinsurance:  Coinsurance can be a difficult issue and many people with insurance do not understand it.  In most cases, the coverage limit on your property must equal a certain percentage of the replacement cost on that property.  That percentage would be stated in your policy (the percentage is often 80%).  If you do not have adequate "insurance to value" on that property then it is possible you would pay a portion of your loss in addition to your deductible.

For example, if you have replacement cost coverage and you own a $100,000 home, your policy may require 80% coinsurance.  That means that you are required to carry at least 80% of the replacement cost of your home as your limit of insurance, or $80,000.00 in coverage.  If you are only carrying $40,000.00 in coverage, then you are underinsured by 50% ($40,000 is 50% of the required $80,000).  If you are underinsured by 50% the policy may state that you will be penalized 50% on your claim.  In this scenario, if you had a $50,000.00 claim, you would be penalized $25,000.000.  You would be paid $25,000.00 and the balance of your loss would be paid by you.

It is important that you and your adjuster discuss coinsurance early in the claims process and agree to what coinsurance penalty, if any, should be taken.  Use the following notation section to summarize this discussion.

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oFire Call Coverage:  Your policy may have coverage for the costs associated with your local fire department responding to your fire.  Your adjuster should indicate to you the amount of this coverage and how these costs will be handled.

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oDeductible:  Your policy deductible must be applied to your claim at some point.  However, if your actual loss exceeds your limits of insurance, we will most likely absorb that deductible for you.

YOUR POLICY DEDUCTIBLE IS:___________________________________________________

oMortgagee:  If a mortgagee is named on your policy as having an interest in damaged property, that mortgagee may need to be named on your claim check, along with you as the named insured.

MORTGAGEE:___________________________________________________________________

oYour Agent:  Your agent can be one of your best friends when you are in a situation such as this.  If you have a question on your insurance coverage or how your claim is being handled, and if your adjuster cannot assist you, please feel free to call your agent.

YOUR AGENT IS:________________________________________________________________

oOther Issues:  Not all insurance and claims issues have been discussed in this checklist.  Perhaps the most important of issues that has not been discussed is the need for you to find and not be afraid to read your insurance policy.  Please do not hesitate to talk to your adjuster or insurance agent about what your policy will or will not cover.

Please use the rest of this form to note other issues that you and your adjuster may have discussed in regards to both our responsibilities and yours as they relate to the handling of your claim:

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By checking the caption boxes and reviewing the notes included I, __________________________ (insured), indicate that I have discussed these issues with my adjuster.

Signed on this date:________________________________________

Insured:_________________________________________________

Adjuster:_________________________________________________