After Hurricane Irma: Floridians Seek Answers On Insurance Claims; Tips On What To Do

TAMPA, FL — As Floridians begin the cleanup from Hurricane Irma, they begin assessing their options regarding insurance claims. As you might expect, the sooner residents contact their agents concerning damage, the faster the claim will be processed. And as most Floridians know, home insurance can have high deductibles for hurricane damage.

Property damage from Hurricane Irma has been projected at $64 billion to $92 billion by Moody's Analytics. Four deaths have been linked to the storm. No deaths were reported in the Tampa Bay area, which did not suffer widespread major damage as had been predicted.

Michal Brower, State Farm spokesperson for Florida, said residents should begin to make temporary repairs to prevent further damage to their home or property. Keep a record of time spent and all receipts for work done on your property so you can add the cost to your claim, she said. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Tampa Patch. Click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Watch: FEMA Says Irma Clean-Up Will Be A Complex And Frustrating Process

“Our greatest concerns is for the safety of everyone in the affected areas,” Brower said. “Right now our teams are surveying the damage and determining the resources needed to respond to our customers’ needs.”
Brower said she currently had no updated numbers on Florida claims.

She shared these tips for handling damage around your home and property:

• Keep notes and use inventory lists to help adjusters assess the damages.
• Remove tree debris from the structure and place it on the ground.
• Secure replacement costs/estimates from local retailers, and obtain statements from vendors on items that cannot be repaired. Be careful before signing anything without fully reading the documents, and contact insurance company first.
• Do not dispose of any damaged contents until authorized by your agent or claim representative.

State-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. advises on its website that if residents have been displaced following the hurricane to make sure to provide temporary contact information when reporting a claim. "If we can’t reach you, your claim could be delayed," the website advises.

Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier offered some tips for residents whose property has been damaged as a result of Irma.

Before attempting any temporary repairs, take photos or shoot video footage. Insurance companies may ask for visual documentation of damages. A free smartphone app called “MyHome Scr.APP. book developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners can store a room-by-room log of photos.

Also, locate all insurance policies which may include a homeowners’ policy, flood policy (which is usually a separate coverage) and an automobile policy, which could cover damage from flooding.

Residents who have questions about policy coverages or need help filing a claim can call Florida’s free Insurance Consumer Helpline, run by the Department of Financial Services, at 1-877-693-5236.

Shani Bryant, communications consultant with Allstate Insurance Co., said mobile claims centers will be dispatched in Florida on Tuesday. She said specific locations will be released later on Allstate.com.
She suggested doing an inventory of your home and preparing a list of damaged items before your adjuster arrives to speed up the claims process.

Allstate policyholders can begin the claim process by calling or visiting their Allstate agent or calling 1-800-54-Storm, logging onto Allstate.com or visiting the nearest mobile claims center.

Brower said policyholders whose vehicles have experienced flood damage should contact their State Farm agents or claim specialist for further guidance, before seeking repairs.

“We recommend against driving vehicles damaged by floodwater until they have been inspected by a qualified technician. It is easy to see how floodwater damages a car’s upholstery and carpeting, but difficult to see damage to a car’s engine, transmission, and electrical components. If you carry comprehensive coverage on your vehicle policy then, subject to any deductible you may have selected, damage resulting from wind, hail, flood or earthquake, generally will be covered.”

Additionally, Brower said for those Floridians with home damage and claims from the storm, State Farm wanted to make residents aware of an important issue called AOB (Assignment of Benefits). Media reports have highlighted claims where an Assignment of Benefits may have inflated damages or may even rise to the level of insurance fraud.

State Farm has seen an increase in claims with an Assignment of Benefits throughout the state, she said. State Farm offers these tips if you have home damage from Hurricane Irma to avoid an AOB mistake:

• Be careful before signing anything without fully reading the documents. An AOB transfers the payment and many rights of a resident’s claim to the vendor or contractor for the services provided or to be provided. This language is often difficult to identify in the documents.
• Also, vendors taking AOBs may be water mitigation companies, roofers or other contractors. “Be diligent before signing anything with a vendor/contractor that solicits you directly and advises you to file a homeowner’s claim,” she said.
• The residents should preserve all building materials removed by any contractor or vendor until they speak with State Farm.

Brower said if you can’t reach your State Farm agent, you can report your claim by calling the toll-free number: 800-732-5246, or submitting a claim through the mobile app “Pocket Agent” or through the website at statefarm.com/claims.

House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O' Lakes, has raised the possibility of a post-storm special session “should any recovery efforts require legislative authorization,” WUSF reported.

State Senate Banking and Insurance Chairwoman Anitere Flores, a Miami Republican whose district also covers the Keys, said the state has to make sure Citizens Property Insurance has the funds to cover individual property-insurance claims, particularly from the Keys, according to WUSF.

“We feel that because this storm was not as bad as it could have been, that Citizens will not have to go into actual assessment mode, and to assess people who are not Citizens property holders,” Flores said. “Citizens' reserves are approximately $9 billion. So the question that we have to figure out in the next couple of days is of that, how many Citizens property holders were at a total loss.”

Photo: A tree narrowly missed crashing into a home in the Westchase area as Hurricane Irma hit the region Sunday night. By Patch Editor Don Johnson