You come home, and you discover that when a hail storm came through the area last night, it did substantial damage to your roof. Usually, when you find that that there is damage to your house that your insurance policy covers, you file the claim immediately. But what if you don’t file that claim right away?
Sometimes things happen that get between you and being able to file that claim for whatever reason. And sometimes, they keep getting in the way, and now you’re months or even years past the date of loss and you still haven’t gotten to filing your claim. Can you still file it?
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO FILE A CLAIM?
The best time to file an insurance claim for damage to your home is immediately after you notice the need for home repairs. Did you notice that after a hail storm, you suddenly have a lot of water coming in from your roof every time it rains? Did you go outside to mow your lawn, and spend twenty minutes picking up shingles that blew off in a windstorm? You should begin the process of filling the claim right away if this is the case.
Now, if you’re not certain about the damage, there is nothing wrong with hiring a contractor or a roofer to come out and inspect your roof. It may take a couple of days, but it’s better than filing a claim that the insurance company will deny. They keep track of the claims you file, and if you file too many, whether the company approves them or not, they will eventually drop your policy.
WHAT IF I WAIT YEARS TO FILE?
When filing a homeowner’s insurance claim, the important information is to know the date of loss. If for example, a hail storm is what did the damage and allowed water to begin leaking in, or if extreme winds blew through and ripped off a lot of shingles, it is pretty easy to narrow the date of loss down even a month later. If you wait years to file a claim, though, it becomes more and more difficult to figure out the date of the loss.
If for example, this damage came from a storm five years ago, and you have since gone through a change of insurance companies, the new insurer won’t cover it. Now you have to go to the old insurer, and you have to basically prove that the damage was done when you had a policy with that insurance company.
If you’re still with the same insurer, and they check the historic weather data (and they will, and that data gets very specific), they will cover the cost of the roof replacement, but depending on your policy and insurer, they may disagree about where or not they must also offer coverage for damage done by the water leaking through.
So, if your home receives damage from a storm or something similar, the best thing you can do is begin the claims process as soon as you can. The sooner you begin the process, the easier it is to prove that it is something your policy covers. Furthermore, the sooner you notice the damage and begin the claims process, the quicker you can begin repairs, and the more damage you can prevent from possibly occurring.
