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How many of you EVER filed a claim for your home? Are there any hidden benefits other than the obvious disaster ones? I know, I know that its VERY important to have it, just wondering if their are other advantages of having it?
Only claim we filed was when our neighbor's garage burned due to a power surge that fried something plugged into the outlets. Their garage, a boat inside it, and two vehicles - one a 3 week old Acura, were toast. They had over $170K of damage to just the house due to smoke damage from the smoke that filled their house through the breezeway. It was not sealed off to isolate the garage attic from the house attic. They were out of the house for over 3 months.
We had our siding damaged -24' of hardie plank that cracked into pieces, and the roof was damaged along with the fence between us, light fixtures, and garage door was dented by the fire crew. It was over $6K of damage per the adjuster, so less our deductible, we got about $4K. I did the work myself, except for the roof, and it cost me about $3K in repairs that would have been out of my pocket if I did not claim it. This was the only claim in over 20 years, so I know the insurance company is still way ahead on us.
How many of you EVER filed a claim for your home? Are there any hidden benefits other than the obvious disaster ones? I know, I know that its VERY important to have it, just wondering if their are other advantages of having it?
In 40 years of owning homes I have never filed a claim. That said, I could not sleep at night worrying what if something happens and it will cost big bucks to fix/correct.
I say set a very high deductible and hope you never have to file a claim.
Not losing everything you own when the drunk down street falls down in front of your house.
We have people here who cancel their flood insurance when the mortgage is paid off. Then they wonder why they have to pay out of pocket the next time they're flooded, which eventually always happens.
We had one guy lose three new cars in one year due to flooding because "It just can't happen again". He'd also cancelled flood insurance on his house.
Some "hidden benefits", if you can't live in your home because of a covered loss, a fire, your insurance policy will pay for your hotel room, added food costs, etc. while your house is being fixed. Like other's have said, liability, but that also covers you away from your house. Know of a family where their kids were at a golf course and one boy accidentally hit the other boy with a golf club to the face. A combination of their homeowners and umbrella policy paid for his medical bills because he would have maxed out his lifetime coverage under his medical insurance plan.
Only claim we filed was when our neighbor's garage burned due to a power surge that fried something plugged into the outlets. Their garage, a boat inside it, and two vehicles - one a 3 week old Acura, were toast. They had over $170K of damage to just the house due to smoke damage from the smoke that filled their house through the breezeway. It was not sealed off to isolate the garage attic from the house attic. They were out of the house for over 3 months.
We had our siding damaged -24' of hardie plank that cracked into pieces, and the roof was damaged along with the fence between us, light fixtures, and garage door was dented by the fire crew. It was over $6K of damage per the adjuster, so less our deductible, we got about $4K. I did the work myself, except for the roof, and it cost me about $3K in repairs that would have been out of my pocket if I did not claim it. This was the only claim in over 20 years, so I know the insurance company is still way ahead on us.
I am curious as to why your NEIGHBOR'S policy didn't cover your out-of-pocket expenses (e.g. the deductible) since it was something started by something going wrong on their property? Or does that not matter? I've never filed a claim so while I know what my policy covers in my own house, it never occurred to me to ask what happens if something from a neighbor's property damages mine. (OTOH I've heard of that with e.g. trees falling so I guess it makes sense that their policy wouldn't pay in this case either ... just seemed odd to me.)
I've been a homeowner for 10 years now (2 different houses) and would never think of going without insurance. I consider "peace of mind" a benefit.
I am curious as to why your NEIGHBOR'S policy didn't cover your out-of-pocket expenses (e.g. the deductible) since it was something started by something going wrong on their property? Or does that not matter? I've never filed a claim so while I know what my policy covers in my own house, it never occurred to me to ask what happens if something from a neighbor's property damages mine. (OTOH I've heard of that with e.g. trees falling so I guess it makes sense that their policy wouldn't pay in this case either ... just seemed odd to me.)
I've been a homeowner for 10 years now (2 different houses) and would never think of going without insurance. I consider "peace of mind" a benefit.
This brings up another point, yes, their policy should have covered the damage to the neighbor's house, however, if their policy wasn't up to snuff, they might not have had enough coverage to take care of it. Just make sure YOUR liability limits cover your house and possessions because if the neighbor's policy wasn't enough, he could have filed under his own policy for the repairs. In his case, for $3000, I wouldn't have filed under my own policy but I sure as heck would have made a claim against the neighbors.
I've had two hail claims which resulted in a roof replacement in both cases. One claim when a power surge fried a bunch of electronics. A co-worker had a serious house fire on a Sunday afternoon. His agent was out before the Fire Dept left with a $5,000 check for temp housing, clothing and other miscellaneous expenses.
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Disaster is only one reason
