Homeowner Insurance

PREPARING FOR AN INSURANCE CLAIM

You have taken the time to search for and select a good insurance agent. You have worked with that agent to design an insurance program with limits of coverage that fully protect your home and contents and placed it with a company that has a reputation for prompt and fair claim settlements. You are now ready to relax and enjoy the peace of mind that comes from a well designed insurance program while hoping that you never have to use it. 

You are not completely finished until you have taken to time to document and record some valuable information about your personal property and placed this record in a safe place away from your residence. Insurance companies will require a detailed listing of our personal property following a large loss and studies have shown that without the aid of schedules, lists, photos, video tape or other documents, you will only remember 30% to 35% of your belongings. This could prove costly since you can only be compensated for the items you are able to list. 

Depending on your personality and preference for documenting these items you should consider one or more of the following suggestions for documenting your assets; 

1. Itemized inventory of the contents - this is the most accurate way of doing it, but very time consuming. The list should include approximate age of each item and an estimated replacement value. The list can be written or entered as a computer document or file. 

2. Photographs and/or video tape - This method provides a faster way of capturing the information and preserves a visual image of each item, however in the event of a loss an itemized inventory will still need to be prepared using the records and your memory along with estimates of value for each item.. Video taped can also capture and preserve verbal explanations as well as images, and has become the option of choice for many due to the convenience and quality of the information. 

3. Store your inventory records in a safe place away from the insured premises - Even people with fire safes at home are encourages to use an off-site location such as a safety deposit box in a bank, a friend or relative, your insurance agent or other trusted professional as the heat from a fire will destroy photos and video tape kept in a fire safe. 

4. Let family members and your agent know where the records are kept - In the event that you are unavailable or injured in the accident the claim can be filed properly with the insurance company in a timely manner.

Following these simple suggestions or creating your own variation will ensure you have the right information you need to file a claim in the event of a large loss and be compensated for ALL of the items you may have lost. 

The best designed insurance program is only as good
as the quality of the list you can provide after the 
damage has occurred.  

Topic help from
Perk Reichley, CIC is Vice President of Reichley Insurance Agency, Inc
offices in Xenia and Beavercreek  937-429-0655

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