Critical Hurricane “Milton” Claim Tips

Critical Hurricane “Milton” Claim Tips

If you are reading this and have been affected by Hurricane Milton, my heart bleeds for you! 

As an insurance advisor and agency owner for 25+ years, and someone whose family lost our Belle Harbor (Rockaway) beach house in 2012, due to Superstorm Sandy, I empathize with you and your situation.   I’m writing this after Hurricane Milton to help you and others, so feel free to forward this email newsletter to loved ones down south!

After Superstorm Sandy we had an adjuster at the house the next day, and he said, “you don’t need me or my services because your house is totaled and there’s no decision to be made!”  The next day the building inspector said nobody could go into the house as it was a health hazard and had to be demolished. 

We had a FEMA flood policy which covered a maximum of $250,000 for the dwelling and $100,000 for contents aka personal property.  Our Liberty Mutual homeowner’s policy had roughly $1 million in total coverage adding the dwelling and contents together.

After hiring a Manhattan-based law firm, 2 arbitrations, and nearly 4 years later, we finally got closure.  Liberty Mutual claimed it was water damage and initially offered an insulting $14,000 to replace the roof shingles, while Fema was claiming it was caused by wind. 

Keep in mind, that our beachfront house and surrounding lot were valued at $2+ million at the time.  It turned out, that we discovered that their engineer (who did almost 80% of the Liberty Mutual reports) stated that the wind came from the wrong direction. 

We certainly were NOT made whole; however, we fought for years and made ourselves whole with over $600k from Liberty Mutual and $349,000 out of a maximum $350,000 from Fema.

If you are in a hurricane or flood zone and did NOT have damage, I strongly suggest taking a video and/or pictures of EVERY room in your house. Backup the files outside the home for safekeeping in case the time comes, and you are not so lucky!  Include the interior and exterior showing the roof, garage etc. all in good condition aka the before picture!  It’s not easy to recall every little chachka in every room of your home.  Also, keep digital or hard copies of all your policies outside the home.

Before getting into my tips for filing a claim, here are my suggestions on what NOT to do: 

DO NOT:

  1. File a claim immediately while you are still emotionally involved.
  2. Try to file the claim by yourself without outside guidance from a professional.
  3. File a claim without having a copy of your insurance policy or contract in front of you.

Of course, every situation and level of home damage is different and must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. 

My Claim Tips are as follows:

  1. Ask for the Help of Others: Form a team, as this process is overwhelming for one or two people to do alone.
  2. Obtain Copies of All Policies: Even if you already have an older copy of your homeowners and flood policies, call or email and get a new copy, then compare them.  Our policy had changed without us knowing about it!
  3. Compile a List: Of every item in each room of your home and everything else that was damaged.  Come up with more content value than you have coverage for.  If you are putting in a claim for Home and Flood, you can’t list the same contents twice.
  4. Have an Adjuster Look at Your Home:  Be careful with this as adjusters take a percentage of your payout under the guise of getting you more money.  If your home is flattened, an adjuster will not be needed.  If not, have a professional adjuster look at and assess the damage to your home!  There should be no charge for the initial visit.
  5. Read Your Policy Language: In central Floria, for example, it was tornados splintering off the hurricane that did most of the damage. Most policies have a 5% hurricane deductible.  If your dwelling has $900,000 of coverage, that’s a stiff $45,000 deductible you are absorbing.  Most tornado deductibles are either 2% of the dwelling or a flat amount that could be as low as $2,500, depending on the insurance company and contract.
  6. Keep Records: Keep copious notes on all calls, emails, texts, and names of everyone you encounter as well as the date and content of the discussions.  We used a notebook and phone notes.
  7. Get Multiple Estimates:  Get multiple estimates from contractors assessing the damage and cost to replace.  This can give you a sense of what type of offer you might get.
  8. Check for Replacement Cost:  Most policies will have either replacement cost or actual cash value (ACV) coverage.  For example:  You bought a beautiful new table for $1,000 and have the receipt.  The table gets smashed.  Replacement costs could be between $1,000 and $1,200.  The ACV only gives you the depreciated value, which could be $600 or less. 

Filing an insurance claim after a hurricane can be a daunting task; however, staying organized and informed will help you maximize your claim.  By following these tips, you will be better equipped to rebuild and recover after the storm!