Claim Information
It’s never pleasant to experience a loss to your home or personal property. Our Claims department will work closely with agents and adjusters to provide rapid response in our policyholder’s time of need. If you need to file a claim, contact your direct agent.
Filing a Claim
- Call your insurance agent as quickly as possible. Let them know about your loss. They will report the loss to us immediately.
- Preserve and protect your property from further damage.
- Save your damaged property before making repairs if possible.
- Keep an accurate list of all your additional living expenses such as meals, motel rooms, etc. Keep receipts for everything you spend.
- Keep an accurate list of all supplies you purchase for emergency damage control.
- If you need to live elsewhere, leave a forwarding address and telephone number where your agent or adjuster can reach you.
- Prepare a room-by-room list of damage or destroyed property and anything you want to show the adjuster.
- If possible get written bids from reliable licensed contractors on the repair work.
- Be careful. Sometimes undependable workers come into a damaged area, make cheap repairs and leave before you discover that the repairs were inadequate. Check with your local Chamber of Commerce for names of dependable contractors in your area.
Prepare Your Inventory
Help us speed your claim settlement by making a list of damaged property in each room.
For each item include:
- Brand Name
- Model Number
- Age
- Purchase Price
- Place of Purchase
- Cost to Replace
Cleaning Up The Mess And Rebuilding
- Meet with your adjuster and make sure everything necessary has been seen and that it’s okay to begin removing the damaged and destroyed property as part of the clean-up. If the property must be removed before the adjuster sees it, document the damage with photos or video.
- Contact a reputable contractor who possesses the licenses that may be necessary to do construction work in your community.
- Get estimates from competing contractors firms on restoring the damaged property to the condition it was prior to the claim event. The estimate should be detailed so that you and the adjuster know exactly what the contractor intends to do and the cost for each item.
- Present the inventory and construction estimates to the adjuster as soon as possible.
- Proceed with the project, monitoring construction progress as you would if the bills were being paid by you, instead of your insurance company.
- In some instances, the adjuster may write an estimate and offer you a settlement on this figure. It is perfectly safe to accept this settlement. Accepting it will not prevent you from making claim for additional damage discovered later during repairs.