Will I Lose Coverage After Making A Claim On My Home Owner’s Insurance?
We get asked all the time if making a claim on your homeowner’s insurance raises the chances of getting dropped from coverage. Unfortunately, no matter who you ask, there’s no clear answer to that question. Even insurance adjusters and agents can’t say one way or the other. The good news is that we’ve seen a lot of different situations over the many years we’ve been in business, and we can share the facts that we do have with you.
If your Cary, Apex, Raleigh, Durham or Chapel Hill home has serious damage due to fire, wind, or water, call us immediately at 919-467-1991. We will show up soon and work fast to stop any further damage and begin the restoration process. We can work with your insurance company to make sure you pay as little as possible. We’re available around the clock, 7 days a week.
What makes answering this question so difficult is how many situations we’ve seen that seem to be in direct opposition from one another. Some of our customers have made multiple claims for water damage in just a few short years, and still haven’t been dropped from coverage. Other customers, who had been with their insurance companies for over twenty years, have been dropped after a single, reasonable claim. Why these two scenarios played out the way they did is based on a mathematical formula, which is a total mystery known only to the insurance companies.
A well reasoned but unverified hypothesis on why this happens is that insurance companies break their clients into geographical sections, like neighborhoods, or towns. If one particular section happens to be over insured and could cost the business money in the event of a claim, they may start cutting costs any way they can, even if that means cutting off long-term, loyal customers. If that’s the case, then you get dropped from coverage has almost nothing to do with you or your home.
What we can say for certain is that multiple claims within 2-3 year period will raise your chances of getting dropped, but there’s no guarantee that it will happen. In the event that it does, though, it may be a blessing in disguise. Occasionally we hear from our customers that after getting dropped, they found better rates from a competing insurance company. Since they weren’t actively shopping around, they would never have found out about the opportunity for saving money had they not been dropped in the first place.
If there’s ever any kind of damage to your home that you think warrants an insurance claim, it’s recommended that you contact a professional. We’re available 24/7 through our emergency hot-line at 919-467-1991. Our trained and certified professionals will be able to determine the severity of the damage and work with your insurance company to keep your out of pocket costs to a minimum. As licensed contractors, we’ll not only be able to rip out all of the damaged drywall, and any other affected structure, we can rebuild your home as good as new.