Advocate Claim Service, Inc

Advocate Claim Service Newsletter August 2007

It is with great satisfaction that we bring this newsletter to you. In this issue and in coming months, we will discuss pertinent insurance topics which may affect you. We sincerely hope that you will find this newsletter informative and please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions or needs.

This months topics:

• Hiring a Public Claims Adjuster to Handle Your Homeowner’s Insurance Claim
• Keep Track of What You Own with a Home Inventory
• Insurance Tips After the Storm Has Passed
• Do You and Your Family Know How to Evacuate in an Emergency?
• Taking Another Look At Flood Insurance

Hiring a Public Claims Adjuster to Handle Your Homeowner’s Insurance Claim

Imagine that your house has just been badly damaged by an earthquake, fire, hurricane, or other disaster. Not only can you not find your policy, but you can’t remember the last time you reviewed your coverage. Not that it matters, since most people don’t understand the terms of their policies because they are written in legalese. The good news is that with home or property damage, consumers can turn to public claims adjusters to interpret their policies and obtain a fair settlement from their insurance company.

You don’t need to hire an adjuster for minor damage, such as negligible smoke damage from a stovetop fire. However, you should hire an adjuster if your lifestyle is significantly disrupted. That is, bring in a public adjuster when you can’t handle finding new living arrangements, filing a large claim, and arranging for a survey of extensive damage to your property.

Public claims adjusters know the insurance process inside and out, so they can minimize the hassle that comes with collecting documents and evidence, and then negotiating with the insurance company. The adjuster will file all your pertinent paperwork with the insurance company, arrange for the inspections of your damaged property if needed, and haggle with the insurance company if it refuses to pay your full claim.

If you do decide to have a public claims adjuster help you out with your claim, expect to pay them between 5 and 50 percent of your claim settlement. As the settlement amount increases, the adjuster’s cut generally goes down. Adjusters’ fees also depend on the nature of the claim and your marketplace.

What you should look for when hiring an adjuster:

• Experience is a must
• Check the adjuster’s certifications
• Do a background check
• Ask for a referral from a friend
• Confirm the adjuster is licensed in your state (if applicable)

How do you know if you need an adjuster? Depending on who you talk to, you may or may not need a public adjuster. One piece of advice is to seek a public adjuster’s service as soon as possible. Often it’s nearly impossible for consumers to know what to expect from an insurer in a homeowner’s claim situation, even after they read their policies. In addition, it’s difficult for an adjuster to come in after a claim is already being processed. On the other hand, insurers contend that their claims staffs are professionals who make the claims process easy for their policyholders, and they assert that it’s questionable whether a policyholder comes out ahead when the adjuster’s fee is subtracted.

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Keep Track of What You Own with a Home Inventory

If you suddenly experienced a catastrophic incident where all of your possessions were destroyed, would you be able to remember everything you’ve accumulated over the years? Like most people, your answer is probably “no.” That’s why having an up-to-date home inventory is so important. It can help you settle your insurance claim faster, because it represents an accurate and immediate accounting of what you lost. A home inventory can also be used to determine if you have enough insurance to replace the items you own, as well as verify losses for your income tax return.

To help you create an accurate home inventory, the Ohio Insurance Institute offers the following guidelines:

• Use your wedding registries to document new possessions if you have just been married.
• Update your inventory regularly, adding new items when you buy them. Be sure to keep receipts and take photos.
• Take close-up shots of expensive items such as jewelry, fine art, stamp collections, china, furs, antiques and silver. Items, like artwork, antiques and collectibles may increase in value over time. They may require appraisals for authentication and value.
• Don’t forget to inventory the contents of closets, drawers, the basement, the garage and outbuildings.
• Include toys and CDs in your inventory.
• Copy the inventory onto a disk/CD and store it offpremises in a safety deposit box or at a friend or relative’s house.
• Be sure to delete items from your inventory when they are no longer in your possession.
• Update your inventory every few years, when you move, or when you make a major home improvement.

Home inventory software is available that allows you to add digital photographs of your items. If you only own a film camera, you can scan print photographs or have the film developer save the images to a disk. The software also allows you to scan in copies of your receipts.

Another way to create an inventory is with a video camera. Walk through your house or apartment videotaping the contents and describing the items as you go, including information like the make and model of home electronics and appliances, or the type of upholstery fabric used for expensive furniture. You can do the same task using a tape recorder; however, be sure to have detailed photographs that serve as a backup to the verbal descriptions.

A third way to create a home inventory is to use a personal finance software package. These often include a homeowners room-by-room inventory program.

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Insurance Tips After the Storm Has Passed

You prepared for the worst, and you made it through the scare of your life. Now that the severe weather has passed, you would like to think it’s all over, but the work ahead seems overwhelming.

Here are some suggestions on what to do after a storm has passed and damage has been done to your home or vehicle:

1. Contact your agent or insurance company as soon as possible to arrange a visit from an adjuster.
2. Before doing repairs to your house, take photographs and list the damage.
3. Protect your home from further damage by making only temporary repairs until your insurance company advises you further. Save receipts for materials purchased for repairs.
4. Do not have permanent repairs made until your insurance company has inspected the property and you have reached an agreement on the repair costs.
5. If necessary, rent temporary shelter. If your home is uninhabitable, most policies pay additional living expenses while it is being repaired. Before renting temporary shelter, check with your insurance company or agent to determine what expenses will be reimbursed.
6. Unless you have extra coverage, food lost in a power outage is probably not covered. Consider buying an endorsement to cover food losses.
7. Most damage to your home or surrounding structures from fallen trees is covered. Check with your agent or company before calling a tree removal service; those costs may be covered, too.
8. Damage to your vehicles from fallen trees or debris may be covered by your auto policy. Check with your agent.

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Do You and Your Family Know How to Evacuate in an Emergency?

When an emergency strikes, there is usually a small window of time to get you and your family to safety. In addition, you need to maintain enough composure to retrieve important documents and other necessities to take with you. That’s why it’s imperative you map out an evacuation plan before disaster strikes. This way, you will ensure that if you are a victim of a fire, a hurricane or a flood, you will be able to act immediately.

The Insurance Information Institute recommends the following five-step action plan:

1. Arrange Your Evacuation
   1. Map out your primary route and a backup route in case roads are blocked or impassable.
   2. Ask an out-of-town friend or family member to act as a contact person in case your family is separated during the evacuation.
   3. Identify a specific place to meet in case your family members are forced to flee separately.
   4. Listen to local radio and television reports when disaster threatens. Use travel routes specified by local authorities—don’t use shortcuts because certain areas may be impassable or dangerous.
2. Create a Home Inventory
   1. Create a complete home inventory of your personal property. A home inventory will help you ensure that you have purchased enough insurance to replace your possessions. It will also speed the claims process, and will substantiate losses for income tax purposes.
3. Plan What to Take
   1. Medicines and prescriptions
   2. Clothing
   3. Blankets and toys
   4. Flashlight and battery-powered radio
   5. Computer hard drive or laptop
   6. Photographs
   7. Pet food
4. Gather Important Financial Documents
   1. Keep important financial documents in a safe place that you can access easily. In the event of an evacuation take the following documents with you:
      1. Insurance policies
      2. Birth and marriage certificates
      3. Passports
      4. Drivers license or personal identification
      5. Social Security cards
      6. Recent tax returns
      7. Employment information
      8. Wills, deeds, and any trust arrangements
      9. Stocks, bonds and other negotiable certificates
      10. Bank, savings and retirement account numbers
      11. Home inventory
5. Take the Ten-Minute Challenge
   1. To find out if you are ready, conduct a real-time test. Give yourself just 10 minutes to get your family and belongings into the car and on the road to safety. By planning ahead, families are able to gather their children and pets, along with the most important items they will need, calmly and efficiently, with a minimum of stress and confusion.

The Insurance Information Institute has created the Know Your Stuff home inventory software. This is free, downloadable software you can use to organize and list possessions on your computer and burn the finished inventory onto a CD-ROM. You get a copy by logging on to http://www.knowyourstuff.org.

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Taking Another Look At Flood Insurance

According to an August 2006 article published on SmartMoney.com, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported that only 40 percent of all residents in the flooded areas hit by Hurricane Katrina were covered by flood insurance. The majority of those insured were required to have the coverage in order to obtain a mortgage.

The other 60 percent who didn’t have flood insurance fall into two main categories: renters and homeowners without a mortgage.

The uninsured group faced a serious problem. Standard homeowner and renter’s policies cover damage from wind or rain. These policies, however, don’t cover damage as a result of flooding. These individuals’ only recourse was to rely on federal disaster aid.

Flood insurance is available through the National Flood Insurance Program to any property owner living in an area with an established flood plan. This is used to gauge the community’s vulnerability by creating an area flood map. Flood plans also help lessen some of the risk by establishing certain zoning and building policies, which include types of allowed construction, elevation at which building is allowed, permissible building materials, and construction reinforcement techniques.

The National Flood Insurance Program offers three different types of policies:

• The Dwelling Form – this insures one to four family residential structures and/or contents. This form can also be used to insure residential condominium units.
• The General Property Form – this insures residential buildings housing more than four families as well as non-residential and commercial buildings.
• The Residential Condominium Building Association Policy Form – this insures associations operating under the condominium form of ownership.

There is also a Preferred Risk Policy designed for residential and non-residential properties in low-tomoderate risk areas. The policy can be written with one of several combinations of building and contents protections:

• Renters pay $39 per year for $8,000 of contents coverage.
• Business owners can buy $50,000 of building and contents coverage for $500 per year per building.
• Business owners who lease their space can purchase $50,000 of contents coverage for $112 per year.

A recent change in the program has helped stabilize insurance costs. Areas that have sustained multiple, significant flood losses are being classified as Repetitive Loss Structures (RPLs). These structures are now grouped and rated separately from other insured structures. The government is working to lessen the number of RPLs, or at least eventually charge the owners higher premiums.

Finally, keep in mind that flood insurance is easy to obtain. While the federal government may administer the program, it is sold through regular insurance companies. To find out more about flood insurance, call us today or log on to www.floodsmart.gov.

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Disclaimer

Information contained in this newsletter about product offerings, services, or benefits is illustrative and general in description, and is not intended to be relied on as complete information. While every attempt is made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, we do not warranty the accuracy of the information. Therefore, information should be relied upon only when coordinated with professional tax and legal advice.

Advocate Claims Service provides insurance claim help to Florida home and commercial property owners
to ensure you receive a fair settlement for your property insurance claim.

We provide public adjusting services to South Florida including:

Broward County, Miami-Dade County & Palm Beach County

and the cities of

Boca Raton   •   Coconut Creek   •   Coral Gables   •   Coral Springs   •   Davie   •   Fort Lauderdale
Hallandale   •   Hollywood   •   Jupiter   •   Margate   •   Miami   •   Mirimar   •   Pembroke Pines
Plantation   •   South Beach   •   Stuart   •   Tamarac   •   West Palm Beach

Residential Insurance Claims   •   Commercial Insurance Claims   •   Condo Insurance Claims
Hurricane & Windstorm Insurance Claims   •   Mold Insurance Claims   •   Flood Insurance Claims
Fire Insurance Claims