5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Accept Your Insurance Company's First Settlement Offer

When a disaster strikes, damaging your home or business, your insurance claim settlement becomes the solution to getting your life back to normal. You need the insurance money to repair your property. You need it to replace your furnishings and pay your extra expenses. You want your settlement check as quickly as possible, because you feel like everything is on hold until your claim is resolved and the damage is repaired.

When you’re rebuilding your home after major property damage, insurance claim problems are often unavoidable. Getting your family to safety can be traumatic enough. Then you must report your claim, sort through your damaged personal property and find a contractor to make repairs. You must also deal with an insurance company property adjuster who might empathize with you but doesn’t have the same emotional and financial investment.

When your insurance company won't settle your property damage claim fairly, should you hire an insurance claim attorney? You might believe that it's the easiest way to get the money you deserve, but it’s not that simple. Before you hire an insurance claim attorney to represent your interests, you should ask yourself these questions.

It’s not easy to identify insurance company bad behavior during the property claim process. The sense of unfair treatment takes a while to settle in. Of course, no claim process runs flawlessly, especially when you are rebuilding after a major disaster. It’s reasonable to expect a few inconveniences and delays; but how do you know for certain that your insurance company has moved beyond minor glitches to treating you unfairly? Here are 5 clear signs.

Late in the evening of Monday, Jan. 26, winter storm Juno -- the so-called "snowpocalypse" -- roared through some of the most populated areas of the northeastern U.S., crippling cities like Boston and Philadelphia.

Natural disasters like storms, hurricanes, and fires can wreak havoc on homes and businesses. Wildfires, flooding, high winds, and even rain and hail can cause structural or cosmetic damage, or destroy a property entirely. While most people have homeowner's insurance, it can still be difficult to manage the claims process.

If you're not worried about flooding, you should be. According to the National Flood Insurance Program, flooding can happen anywhere. In the past five years, all 50 states have had to deal with a flood.

What's the role of a public adjuster I’m Jill Horner and this is Comcast Newsmakers with me this hour is Gene you know he is president at the American Association of public insurance adjusters. Thanks for being with us thank you Jill thank you for having it's the first of all let's define what you do as an organization, what a public adjuster actually does and the role that they serve for both homeowners and business owners.

When it comes to understanding insurance coverage there are numerous terms and language that most policyholders are unfamiliar with. These include Indemnity, Actual Cash Value (ACV), Replacement Cost Value (RCV) and Depreciation.