Hurricane Sandy has been even more damaging than what experts predicted. Sandy caused widespread damage, leaving millions of homeowners on the hard journey to rebuilding. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners in affected stats have already filed Hurricane Sandy insurance claims.
If your home was damaged during Hurricane Sandy, you’d better start filing your catastrophe insurance claim. This storm was estimated by disaster and risk-modeling firm Eqecat to cost Americans some $20 billion. It’s likely the damage is worth even more after Hurricane Sandy’s damages surprised even weather forecasters.
According to data from the Insurance Information Institute your standard homeowner policy will cover hurricane, tornadoes and severe weather wind damages. It also covers additional living expenses as temporary housing and daily necessities. On the other hand, if your car was flooded you are covered by the standard auto insurance policy only if you checked that option too.
The Daily News writes that by Wednesday afternoon, there were 24,600 homeowner insurance claims filed with State Farm, most of them coming from New York State residents. But as more and more homeowners get a grip and are confronted with the storm damage, the number of insurance claims will skyrocket.
Eqecat estimates that Hurricane Sandy damages will cost in insured losses anywhere from $5 billion to $10 billion and another $10 to $20 billion in economic damages. Director Robert Hunter, Insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, believes wind damage insurance claims will be in the range of several hundred thousands, whereas tens of thousands of homeowners will file insurance claims for flood damage.
The first step into filing a Hurricane Sandy insurance claim is to set up a meeting with an insurance adjuster. Spokeswoman Anna Bryant with State Farm Insurance warns that it will likely take a few days before the insurance company sends someone to assess the hurricane damage.
But experts warn you should be weary of the offer the insurance adjuster will make. A lot of people have been fooled by insurance agents offering only a third of their homes’ replacement costs. Meanwhile, Robert Hunter warns insurance companies will try their best to pay as less as possible:
“Families will have to dig deeper into their pockets because insurers have been steadily increasing hurricane wind coverage deductibles and imposing other policy limitations”.
