The Insurance Company’s Favorite Ways To Deny Or Underpay Property Insurance Claims

Every day, homeowners buy insurance to protect themselves against any potential damage to their home.  As such, you expect that when you need help from your insurance company, they will treat you fairly and compensate you appropriately for your damages. Unfortunately, this does not happen as often as we hope.

When disaster strikes, on top of trying to protect your property and recover from any damages to your property, you may also have to fight your insurance company for fair and just compensation.  Insurance companies are notorious for improperly denying or underpaying homeowners property insurance claims.

No matter how your home is damaged—hurricane, water, mold, fire, or any other cause of loss—the insurance company may deny, delay, or under pay your claim for a number of reasons.  Below are a few common ways insurance companies in Florida might deny your claim:

• Not Covered Under the Terms of the Policy:This means that insurance company is denying your claim because your damage was allegedly not caused by the types of causes of loss covered under the policy you purchased.  Most commonly, insurance companies like to claim that damage is a pre-existing condition, caused by wear and tear, or caused by inadequate maintenance by the homeowner.
  
  
• Failure to Cooperate with the Insurance Company:This means that the insurance company is alleging that you did not provide them with what they consider to be “prompt” notice, sufficient documents supporting the loss, or a sworn statement in Proof of Loss after they requested one.
  
  
• Amount of Loss Dispute: Even if your insurance company accepts that some of your damage was caused by a covered loss under your policy, they will many times say that the scope or amount of damage that you are claiming is less than what you actually need to do your repairs, and leave you underpaid to fix your damage.

If you feel that your insurance company has treated you unfairly by either wrongly denying your claim, underpaying the value of your damages, or not responding to your claim at all, the attorneys at Doran, Beam & Farrell, P.A. are ready to answer any question or address concerns that you may have about your claim. To schedule a FREE consultation, call or text us at 727-846-1000 or complete our online contact form.