As a home insurance policyholder, you enter into an agreement of trust with your insurer: you will pay your premium, and the insurance company will pay for covered property damages should you incur them.
This is a good idea in principle, but what happens when the rubber hits the road and you’re relying on your insurance company to hold up their end of the bargain? Far too often, our experience is that insurance companies put their own interests first and do everything they can to pay as little as possible — or avoid paying out altogether.
How do you avoid this? We’ve put together a guide to help Florida homeowners make sure they’re getting the settlement they deserve.
Insurance Company Adjusters Have an Agenda
Remember, it’s in the best financial interest of the insurance company to pay the minimum possible value for property damage claims — they are, after all, a for-profit business. This means that any adjuster brought out by your insurance company has the underlying purpose of minimizing the damages incurred, decreasing the value of your property damage claim.
Benefits of a Second Opinion
With this knowledge, how do you make sure you’re not getting an unfair settlement that won’t cover the true cost of your property damage? This is where a second opinion comes in. You need a property damage estimate estimate prepared by someone who is on your side. – Someone who is on your side and who knows what should be covered by your insurance policy and who is able to put all that information into a format recognized by the insurance company. Without that, how would you know if you’re getting a fair settlement?
In fact, you can even request a free damage assessment from a Florida insurance lawyer such as Florida Professional Law Group. Give us a call at 800-529-4141 and we’ll set up an appointment right away.
Advocating For Your Claim
In some cases, your insurer could continue to push back, either by lowballing your claim; or by taking an unreasonable time to process it; or even denying it! If this happens to you, consider seeking out experienced legal help to prevent them from using these kinds of tactics.
At the Florida Professional Law Group, our inspectors and estimators work throughout the state, carefully examining and documenting all of the damage they find related to the incident in question — so that you can rest assured you are truly getting a fair and accurate property damage estimate for your claim, prepared by professionals who are on your side. Moreover, if your insurer tries to deny or underpay, we are well versed in the law, and understand what is needed to help you fight back. Because if you’re holding up your end of the bargain, you deserve a fair settlement. Contact us to see how we can help you.
