Adjusters are backed up from thousands of claims from the superstorm.
Because of the destruction all along the Atlantic coast of the country, customers with homeowners insurance claims should expect quite a delay before adjusters will be able to make it to their homes to move the process forward.
This is especially true among policyholders who have not experienced damage leaving the home unlivable.
This is leaving many homeowners insurance customers unable to proceed with the repairs of their homes. Many hesitate to take any action before the adjuster can come and document the damage. For example, some policyholders who have had trees fall onto their homes or cars – causing damage that is extensive – but that doesn’t make the home unlivable – are afraid to remove the downed tree until the adjuster can see it or the insurer can give its specific approval.
Homeowners insurance customers find themselves stuck and unable to move forward with repairs.
Many homeowners insurance customers have tried to call their insurers to ask, but find themselves waiting on calls that take days to be returned. Though they do understand that the storm was a massive one and that insurers are dealing with thousands upon thousands of claims, it is still a highly frustrating time.
Estimates from the Consumer Federation of America have shown that by the time all of the claims come in, there will have been hundreds of thousands, and this will all need to be received and processed by the insurers before roof replacements and basement pumping can begin.
The auto and homeowners insurance industry has added thousands of additional adjusters to the field, pushing to process as many of the claims as possible, right from the moment that the storm hit, but it will still be quite some time before every home and auto owner, and renter will be able to have the claim seen in person by one of these experts.
A spokesperson for the Hartford homeowners insurance company has stated that “We are working as quickly as possible.” He explained that “Our catastrophic claims team is on the ground, working around the clock, but we are still waiting for clearance from local authorities to access some areas. This was a devastating and highly unusual storm.”