Insurance claim after the ice storm

Diana

Diana

Final Approach
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Diana
The adjuster is coming by today. We've been trying to figure out what to claim. Hopefully they will cover the damage in the hangar apartment from the hot water heater freezing, breaking and flooding the apartment. Anybody have experience with this kind of thing?

The electrician still hasn't come to rewire the major pole and the old pole is hanging by a rope tied to the new pole. The line is starting to sag and the truck antenna hit it yesterday when I backed up. I thought I was going to get fried, but nothing happened.
 
Diana said:
The electrician still hasn't come to rewire the major pole and the old pole is hanging by a rope tied to the new pole. The line is starting to sag and the truck antenna hit it yesterday when I backed up. I thought I was going to get fried, but nothing happened.
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No experience with the insurance but here is how you can get the power company there right away.

Send them a certified letter letting them know that the power lines have sagged enough so that vehicle antennas strike the wires creating a SAFETY HAZARD. They will be right out!

-Skip
 
And tell them that the water damage forced you to scrap the Pitts, so they owe you another one.

Not dealt with insurance from ice storms, but had two hurricane claims more than a decade apart. The first one, Andrew in Miami, the insurance company basically gave us a blank check and said make yourself whole. The most recent one, Charley in Orlando (which also dinged my Citabria) cost us plenty because the adjuster was a prick (for example, $120 for the screen around the pool, which cost $900 to replace and $140 for 160 feet of 6 foot tall wood privacy fence.

My advice: Claim everything you can think of, because they will disallow and nickel and dime you to death.
 
Diana,

Having just dealt with my insurace company due to hail damage I have to agree with Ken - claim everything. Talk with your agent before the adjuster comes so you can get an idea of the things they'll look at. In my case it was things like damage to window screens, air conditioner cooling vanes, and a few other things that I wouldn't have thought about. In your case, with a power loss, even consider the value of any groceries you lost in the refrigerator/freezer.

Then be prepared to ask them to justify the dollar amount they come up with on all the damage they note. I also agree with Ken, they will nickel and dime you to death. In my case they mis-measured my roof when estimating the replacement cost. Then I had to get my roofer to write a letter, then I had to listen to the adjuster say "I talked it over with my supervisor and we don't think you are tyring to screw us, so we'll go with what your roofer says". Thanks for the vote of confidence. I still have open issues with them.

Good luck,
Matt
 
Be prepared to bend over and take it like a man. Most insurance companies do their damndest to avoid paying or to underpay claims; that's how they've been racking up record profits year after year. Good luck, and let us know how it comes out.
 
Hope you fare better than I did. Insurance adjuster told us we are not covered for damage from ice and we are not covered for damage from things falling on the house. In a nutshell -- nothing.

We still cannot get a roofer to come by and the holes in the roof are covered by a tarp.
 
If the sagging wire is after the transformer (service to the house entrance) it should be insulated. Will look like 2 black wires and a silver wire twisted together. The black (hot) wires are insulated.
 
Skip Miller said:
No experience with the insurance but here is how you can get the power company there right away.

Send them a certified letter letting them know that the power lines have sagged enough so that vehicle antennas strike the wires creating a SAFETY HAZARD. They will be right out!

-Skip
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Be careful about this strategy- they may come right out, cut off the power, and tell you they'll be back after you fix the lines (if it's on your side), or when they have a chance (i.e., "whenever").

###

As for the insurance adjusting issue, you should claim for each and every thing which you reasonably can show was damaged or destroyed as a result of the storm. That certainly would include the food in the freezer / fridge, trees, etc. (unless explicitly excluded from the policy's coverage). Do not be shy about claiming legitimate items, and do not be faint of heart about standing up for the appropriate valuation if they try to low-ball you. Most importantly, do not claim anything that does not belong. Your conscience will guide you well here.

But, do not approach it with an automatically-hostile attitude. I know from personal experience that adjusters can go a long way to helping you when they experience a good and honorable attitude.

Who is your carrier? We have USAA, and have experienced very professional and fair adjusting practices in homeowners' insurance claims with them- no "blank check," but no "nickel and diming," either.

Final advice: be very careful about signing off on releases (i.e., "By endorsing and depositing the enclosed, check, Insured waives and releases all claims..."), unless you are quite certain that you have been fully compensated. Good carriers do not require you to release claims to be paid for proven damages- the payment is a defense to a claim for the same damage, and should additional concealed damages arise later on, you would be very disappointed to have released them already.

Again, USAA sends checks (without releases of any kind) based upon estimated damages, and entertains additional claims supported by reasonable facts. Very responsible, and I believe it ultimately reduces fraudulent claims.

My $0.02, worth every penny you paid for it.
 
IIRC, Diana said that the pole & line on her property was her responsibility (not the power company). If so, contacting the power company will get her nowhere - it's gotta be a local electrician.

Spike has good advice on the insurance....
 
Side Note: If you DO come in contact with a live power line and you can't move away the contact (wire it still touching truck/tractor), if you have to get out, make VERY VERY sure that you don't touch the ground and the vehicle at the same time. Like mentioned earlier, the 'live' wires should be insulated, but if the insulation is poor, or you damage the insulation with your contact, you could be creating a ground through your vehicle - better safe than sorry. If you have to get out, open the door and jump away from the vehicle so you are sure not to be touching the vehicle and the ground at the same time. If possible, call someone and have them cut the power to the line before you get out, but that's not always easy or practical.

We were taught this where I used to work because we are operating very tall agricultural equipment in areas where low hanging power lines are frequent (small back-wood corn/bean fields).
 
gkainz said:
If the sagging wire is after the transformer (service to the house entrance) it should be insulated. Will look like 2 black wires and a silver wire twisted together. The black (hot) wires are insulated.
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That's what it looks like. I won't worry about it as much now. We are still on a waiting list for the electrician, so probably better not call the electric company if they will cut off our power.
 
CJones said:
Side Note: If you DO come in contact with a live power line and you can't move away the contact (wire it still touching truck/tractor), if you have to get out, make VERY VERY sure that you don't touch the ground and the vehicle at the same time. Like mentioned earlier, the 'live' wires should be insulated, but if the insulation is poor, or you damage the insulation with your contact, you could be creating a ground through your vehicle - better safe than sorry. If you have to get out, open the door and jump away from the vehicle so you are sure not to be touching the vehicle and the ground at the same time. If possible, call someone and have them cut the power to the line before you get out, but that's not always easy or practical.
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EXCELLENT, potentially life saving advice.

If the antenna is in contact with the wire, the car's rubber tires, grease in the wheel bearings, etc. are preventing a "short" from the wire to the ground. If while exiting the car, you touch the metal body and the ground simultaneously, you could be in for a nasty, even fatal surprise.

-Skip
 
Diana said:
The adjuster is coming by today. We've been trying to figure out what to claim. Hopefully they will cover the damage in the hangar apartment from the hot water heater freezing, breaking and flooding the apartment. Anybody have experience with this kind of thing?
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They will most likely fight you on all damages resulting from the water heater damage? Why? Because you could have drained it when you knew the power was out. My insurance tried that with me on my house fire, with water still being in the pipes and said pipes breaking, however I was not living on the premesis, and they had not installed any power for me to blow out the pipes, and had not authorized any work to be done before the temps dropped and the pipes froze. I said, if you wanted the pipes cleaned out, you should have hired it out, before it got cold. The water heater on the other hand, all you needed to do was connect a hose and drain it, no power required, just gravity. So be ready for them to deny everything on that since that was an easily preventable situation.
 
Had American Family when we lived in KC. Had 2 storm damage claims against my dock on Lake Pomme De Terre and one on my house roof in KC. Settled all three fairly. No hassles. Hope it goes as well for you.
Ron
 
wsuffa said:
IIRC, Diana said that the pole & line on her property was her responsibility (not the power company). If so, contacting the power company will get her nowhere - it's gotta be a local electrician.

Spike has good advice on the insurance....
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Right.

Remember? She said that the power guy said they'd not have power until they got the electrician to work on thier side. Then he rigged it so they could have power.

I don't think it makes sense to complain about the power guy going beyond the call to get them connected again. As you say, they'll just remove the link and power and tell them to get the electrician.
 
EdFred said:
They will most likely fight you on all damages resulting from the water heater damage? Why? Because you could have drained it when you knew the power was out. My insurance tried that with me on my house fire, with water still being in the pipes and said pipes breaking, however I was not living on the premesis, and they had not installed any power for me to blow out the pipes, and had not authorized any work to be done before the temps dropped and the pipes froze. I said, if you wanted the pipes cleaned out, you should have hired it out, before it got cold. The water heater on the other hand, all you needed to do was connect a hose and drain it, no power required, just gravity. So be ready for them to deny everything on that since that was an easily preventable situation.
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Being that my house and many I looked at were "winterized" foreclosures, I know it's not that complicated. They just drain the water heater and supply pipes by opening the lowest faucets and dump antifreeze in all of the toilets, and sink and floor drain traps. The instructions for such are right on the bottle. It the same anti-freeze used for winterizing RVs. You can find it at a hardware store.

When I got the water and gas turned back on I had no damage. I had to chase down leaky faucets and toilet valves all over the house, but none of that was due to freeze damage. (First water/trash bill: $100+. Since: $30-$40)
 
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L10MAN said:
Had American Family when we lived in KC. Had 2 storm damage claims against my dock on Lake Pomme De Terre and one on my house roof in KC. Settled all three fairly. No hassles. Hope it goes as well for you.
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Thanks Ron. Actually, he was a great guy and was very willing to take care of everything. He was from a special catastrophic unit...even said so on his car. :)

He had the coolest ladder, too. I want to get one for Tom. It was very compact and telescopic. He just popped up his ladder and scrambled around the roof for awhile and looked all around the house and buildings. Looks like they will pay us for part of a roof, siding on one whole side, a new hot tub lid, well house roof, food loss, damage to the hangar, electrician expenses for re-doing our pole and box, and some more stuff I can't remember right now. He also said if anything else becomes evident, to just send them a bill...no need for an adjuster to come out. We were quite impressed!
 
mikea said:
Being that my house and many I looked at where "winterized" foreclosures, I know it's not that complicated. They just drain the supply pipes by opening the lowest faucets and dump antifreeze in all of the toilets, and sink and floor drain traps. The instructions for such are right on the bottle. It the same anti-freeze used for winterizing RVs. You can find at a hardware store.

When I got the water and gas turned back on I had no damage. I had to chase down leaky faucets and toilet valves all over the house, but none of that was due to freeze damage. (First water/trash bill: $100+. Since: $30-$40)
Click to expand...

In my house, I had supply lines lower than the lowest drains, and that's where they cracked. It was only in a couple spots, but the insurance did attempt to balk at it.
 
Glad to hear they're still a decent company Diana. I wish they would move into Tennessee then I could dump the good hands people.
Ron
 
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