Comments on: Homeowners Insurance?

By: MARK S

MARK S — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:09:36 +0000

2 yrs for injury and 1 year for property damage.

By: mbrcatz17

mbrcatz17 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:24:50 +0000

The policy wording says “reasonable time”. Clearly, a month would be ok – two years, well, the longer it is, the closer they look at the claim to see if it’s valid.

But if it’s more than a week or so, they’re going to ask you why you waited.

By: fightingsaints

fightingsaints — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:47:08 +0000

Most of the time the policy is worded vaguely in this area. In 20+ years of handling claims (including 3.5 yrs at St. Farm) I don’t ever recall denying a claim because somebody took too long to report it.

With that being said, you do run a risk of having your claim reduced for taking too long to report the claim if the house itself has received some kind of physical damage.

The policy requires you to “mitigate” your damages and part of that is having the physical damages repaired in a timely manner. I have reduced claims for people who reported a leaky roof 6 months after the damage occurred. During the 6 month gap the water leaking led to damages that would not have occurred if they had reported the loss earlier.

If you haven’t done so already report the claim now.

By: dakolombeean

dakolombeean — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:22:22 +0000

Best bet is to look at your policy under a section called “policy conditions”. If you don’t have a copy of your policy your agent should be your next step.. If he’s not helpful contact your state’s Insurance Commissioner’s office. They should be able to tell you what your state’s laws are, due to the fact that every state’s insurance laws are different.

By: tonalc1

tonalc1 — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:03:57 +0000

Call your agent and ask. It’s usually 30-60 days.

By: Amy V

Amy V — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:25:48 +0000

It depends on the state you live in, the law varies from state to state. You can go through your policy, but if you call your agent or the insurance company they won’t be very helpful.

By: Steve H

Steve H — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:23:57 +0000

It will be in your policy if you will open it up and read it. Or you could pick up the phone and call State Farm.