Are You Afraid to Call the Insurance Company

by Andrea Hermitt | More from this Blogger

28 Aug 2009 07:02 AM

Are you afraid to call the insurance company because you don't want to upset them or your premiums. When it comes to car accidents where you are at fault, the fear is understandable. What about the insurance company for your home? Do you try to fix things yourself that the insurance would cover? I am guilty of this too. But what are we paying insurance for anyway?

We had hail storms two months ago where I live and I have been noticing one by one everyone in my neighborhood getting their roofs replaced. I remembered the sound of the storm and how the hail sounded like drums on my gutters and wondered if we needed our roof replaced too.

Well the insurance company adjuster came by yesterday and guess what? Our entire roof needs to be replaced and a good portion of our ceiling as the subsequent heavy rains left damage that we could not see yet. They may pay to replace our gutters too. I am glad we called as if we had ignored the signs, we would have had to pay for the damage out of our pocket for being negligent.

You should be sure to call your insurance company in the instance of any event that your insurance covers. Don't wait to see signs of damage, but have them come out should the condition make damage possible. These conditions include:

• Fire or lightning
• Windstorm or hail
• Explosion
• Riot or civil commotion
• Damage caused by aircraft
• Damage caused by vehicles
• Smoke
• Vandalism or malicious mischief
• Theft
• Volcanic eruption
• Falling objects
• Weight of ice, snow, or sleet
• Accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam from within a plumbing, heating, air conditioning, or automatic fire-protective sprinkler system, or from a household appliance.
• Sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning, or bulging of a steam or hot water heating system, an air conditioning or automatic fire-protective system.
• Freezing of a plumbing, heating, air conditioning or automatic, fire-protective sprinkler system, or of a household appliance.
• Sudden and accidental damage from artificially generated electrical current (does not include loss to a tube, transistor or similar electronic component).

(list from insure.com)

If you liked this you should also read my blogs at the home blog, the parents blog, and the frugal blog. You can read my recent posts here.

More on fixing your home and repairing damages:

Checking Your Remodeling Recoup Cost

Repairing Our Front Walk

Home Improvements in a Recession

Learn more about Andrea Hermitt

Andrea Hermitt is a native New Yorker currently residing in GA. She has been married for over 16 years and has two teenage children.

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