There are some initial steps that you can take immediately after property damages occur, which may help your claim’s final outcome. These are all small tasks that can significantly improve your chances of walking away happy with your claim.
Attempt to Mitigate Further Damages
One of the best things you can do to protect the worth of your claim is to attempt to stop further damages from affecting your property. When you patch up a leak, cut off your water supply, or dry out water damage, you are proving to your insurer that you are a responsible property owner who has taken every reasonable and necessary measure to keep the property from falling into a worse condition.
Utilize Community Resources
Extreme weather can be really scary, especially if you are ill-prepared. Fortunately, the state of Florida has many resources for citizens to take advantage of in such stressful and sometimes dangerous times.
The State Emergency Response Team (SERT) has put together a hurricane loss mitigation program.
SERT has also put together a list of community resources.
And, FEMA has a financial aid program.
Call a Public Adjuster!
It might seem redundant, but reaching out to an unbiased insurance claims advocate is a vital step in protecting your property damage claim. Insurance companies have a lot more experience with this process than you do, and they may use that fact to avoid paying out the full extent of available benefits for your claim. In fact, they wrote some of the rules of the game thanks to extensive lobbying in the state of Florida, so get support from someone who knows how to play and win.