How To Document A Home Insurance Claim

Even though you may have taken out adequate home insurance coverage to protect yourself against loss, if you are unable to properly document your claim then you will not receive the maximum benefit from your home insurance policy.

In the worst case scenario where you are unable to document any of your losses, you may not receive any compensation in your settlement claim despite having both building and contents coverage thereby leaving you with thousands of dollars of out-of-pocket expenses.

From an insurance companies perspective this is perfectly understandable, as they need to be sure that any claim you make is a genuine claim. Insurance fraud does happen, so they will always require proof before they approve any claim you make.

Of course, for you as the insured party, this makes documenting your losses absolutely essential because that is your proof that you will later give to your insurer. So the better you are able to document your insured losses, the less problems you will have later on.

Documenting Home Insurance Claims

Making a successful homeowners insurance claim can depend on many different factors, most obviously, what you are trying to make a claim on as if your loss is not covered by your policy then you will not be compensated for it.

It is also important to note that making a successful claim often starts well before you even think of making a claim, as it is a lot more difficult to approach your insurer if you haven’t already prepared for potential losses in advance.

Below we offer some simple tips on how to get yourself prepared should the worst happen, so that you can increase your chances of receiving all the money that you are entitled to in your settlement claim.

Home & Detached Structures

Since part of your home insurance policy provides coverage to the structure of your home, it is vitally important that you take photographs of the exterior of your property and any detached structures that you have.

With a coverage A dwelling policy, you will automatically receive 10% coverage on your detached structures. If you calculate that this does not fully insure your detached structures, then you may need to take out a coverage B other structures home insurance policy to ensure that you are fully insured against financial loss.

Taking photographs will provide documentation of the original condition and shape of your house, which will be important in helping your insurance company determine a claim settlement payout amount later on. These photographs should be date printed, meaning that they should display the date the photograph was taken on the actual the picture itself.

You may also wish to supplement your photographic documentation with a video recording of your home. Although you must still take photos as these will be easier to send to your insurer when they are required.

Some of the structures of your home that you should photograph are:

•    Front, back and side walls of house
•    Roof including any tiling
•    Windows and window frames
•    Brickwork
•    Woodwork
•    Doors and door frames
•    Garage and garage door(s)
•    External fixed lighting
•    Porch
•    Balcony
•    Driveway
•    Fences
•    Gates
•    Perimeter walls
•    Patio
•    Swimming pool
•    Outdoor Jacuzzi
•    Greenhouse
•    Sports fixtures such as basketball net
•    Conservatory
•    Solar equipment

Special Structures

Anything in your home which is not considered to be a standard fitting should be photographed. For example, stone fireplaces, built-in buffets and custom woodwork should be documented with photos.

The reason it is important to document such special structures is that if you ever need to make a claim on your home insurance, you will be able to show your insurance company exactly what structure was damaged and how much it will cost to replace or repair.

Very often insurance companies use standard estimates for standard items, and although these tend to be quite accurate for standard items, they are far less so for special or custom-built items.

What this basically means is that if you have a unique structure in your home which you fitted yourself and so was not originally a part of your home when you purchased it, then unless you document it fully, the insurance company is unlikely to compensate you for its full value if it were ever damaged or destroyed.

Photos of your special structure should be taken from multiple angles and supported with receipts if possible, especially if that structure contains a unique type of wood or stone which contributes towards its overall value.

The following video provides some more information on how to document property losses and why it is important to do such documentation in advance.

Structural Blueprints

One of the best ways to ensure that you get a fair settlement claim is to keep the blueprints of your house if you have them. Or if you have had an extension to your property, to keep the plans of the work that was carried out. If you can show your insurance company the exact dimensions and size of your home, it will greatly help them in correctly estimating the value of your claim.

Having blueprints of your home can also be a good way to ensure that you get the right insurance policy. If for example, your home is insured based upon a smaller property, you could end up being under-insured and not receiving adequate insurance coverage on your property.

On the other hand, if your property is insured based upon a larger property, you could end up being over-insured and paying more for your home insurance than you should be doing.

So keep your home blueprints handy, as they can prove to be very useful when dealing with insurance companies.

Personal Property Insurance

All of your personal property should be photographed, and if you buy something new, it is a good idea to photograph it with the receipt.

Take pictures of all attached structures inside your home such as your cupboard, both with doors/draws open and closed, storage areas, your basement and any other property that you keep in other structures such as your garage or shed.

Ideally, you should try to photograph each item individually using a digital camera. If you do not want to photograph every item that you own, then at least be sure to take photos of the items you want to insure such as items of moderate to high value.

Some of the things that you might want to photograph inside your home are: computers in addition to documentation of installed software, laptops, mp3 players, cell phones, games systems and games, DVDs/BluRay movies, books, furniture, TVs and kitchen and bathroom appliances. All these items should also be written down and kept as a personal property inventory list.

Note: When documenting electronic equipment it is advisable to photograph the make, model and serial number of the item that you are photographing. This will make it a lot easier for you to prove the value of the item that you are claiming upon to your insurer.

You should be aware however, that under a standard homeowners personal property insurance policy, you will receive fairly limited coverage for expensive items such as jewelry. Usually, this coverage limit is set at $1000, so if you have a lot of jewelry such as expensive rings, necklaces and earrings, then this coverage limit will probably not be enough for you.

In order to fully insure expensive items, you will need to add them specifically to your home insurance policy. Only by doing this will you be able to receive full compensation in the event that your items are damaged, lost or stolen.

If you are not entirely sure about what exclusions there are in your personal property coverage policy, then make sure that you find out by contacting your insurance agent or broker. This is something that you definitely want to find out about now, as if you leave it to claim time it will be too late.

Likewise, if you are uncertain as to the true value of your high value items, then it is worth paying for an appraiser to get them professionally valued. This valuation however, must be agreed upon and accepted by your insurer in order for those items to be listed on your policy under that coverage limit.

Keep Your Insurance Documentation Safe

There is little use in spending hours carefully documenting your home and personal possessions if you keep that documentation in your house and it is later destroyed in a fire.

So make sure that you keep your insurance documentation and the pictures which you take of your home and property in a secure off site location, such as a bank safe deposit box.

Alternatively, if you are taking pictures using a digital camera, then you can store those pictures online or send them to yourself by email. You can then make a hard copy by burning those images to disc, printing them and storing that disc in a secure location.

Are You Fully Insured?

To make sure that you really are insured against the losses you think you are, book an appointment with your insurance adviser to go over your existing home insurance policies and ask them to tell you about anything which you are not insured against. These areas of uninsured coverage are known as gaps.

The purpose of doing this is not to go and then insure yourself against everything, but rather to be aware of what uninsured risks you are currently facing and whether or not you would benefit from taking out additional home insurance to close those gaps.

At the end of the day, if you have done everything described in this article you should feel well protected by your home insurance policy and be extremely confident in making a successful homeowners insurance claim if you are ever put in the position of having to do so.