What will your Homeowners Insurance Pay ?

“Don’t Worry, Your Insurance Company Will Pay for This….or Will They?”

Quite often I receive phone calls from policy holders who have recently had or are thinking about having home repairs made after a vendor has written them an estimate. These vendors include, but are not limited to electricians, air conditioning repairmen, plumbers, construction contractors and many others. Many times, (after the “sticker shock” effect sets in), the vendor says to the homeowner, “Oh don’t worry, you can claim this on your home insurance”.
Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Many repairs, updates & upgrades are considered to be regular maintenance and are not covered under a homeowners policy. I have found that many home repair vendors want to try and have the insurance pay for the repair, so that they can increase their charges. This leads to false claims which causes rates to increase and there is no benefit for anyone.
Your home insurance policy protects you in case an unintended event causes loss to your property. Many policies have “named perils” in the policy information which defines the events in which an insurance company may pay a claim subject to the deductible.
If you are thinking about making a claim based on what a vendor tells you, be sure to contact your agent first. Any correspondence directly with a carrier’s claims department is monitored. A call to inquire about whether or not something is covered is documented (whether on a recorded line or email) and inquiring about a possible may be a negative rating factor at your next renewal whether or not you truly end up filing that claim.
Many times your agent can discuss your deductible options (many time repairs are under the deductible amount) and whether or not it makes sense to move forward to file a claim based on the individual situation.
Rhonda Runge,

rhonda@sernainsurance.com
713-515-8928

Connie Vallone 713 249 4177 www.houstonenergycorridorhomes.com