Protect Your Future Home Insurance Claims With These 5 Tips

Generally speaking, we buy home insurance to avoid actually having to use it. We want to make sure that it’s there for us and protecting the place that we call home. But no homeowner really dreams about the day that they’re going to have to call in a claim.

Imagine having to call in a claim and hoping your insurance company is going to follow through. They take down all of the necessary information, but something odd happens: your claim gets rejected! Of course you can appeal, but the shock might be enough to cloud your head for a while.

No need to worry. There are plenty of ways to keep your home insurance claim from being rejected. You just have to make sure that you pay attention to the details.

1. Start Right From the Beginning

Buying a policy online is awesome, because you get covered quickly and you can move on to other tasks in your day. Unfortunately, people tend to ignore the signs that are all around them of a bad policy. You need to pay attention to any warnings that you get when you’re taking the policy out. You could be skipping over relevant information that you need to know if you’re ever going to put in a claim.

2. Be Honest!

There is nothing that can torpedo your chances of getting a claim approved if the house isn’t described as accurately as possible. You need to describe the materials that the home is built from, including those thatched rooftops that used to be all the rage. If the claims specialist comes out and finds that the house is materially different from the way that you described it to get the policy, the claim can be not only denied, but the entire policy could be cancelled. That just makes it even harder to get good insurance with another provider, because they’re going to worry big time if you’re lying to them as well. It’s better to pay a little more for good coverage than to find yourself without what you need.

3. Be Security Focused

Most insurance providers want you to do everything in your power to minimize risk on all sides. This means that you need to have a good alarm system and strong locks on all of the doors and windows. These details might seem small, but you can be that the claims specialist dispatched to the location will make a note of it. It’s their job to see exactly what you did to secure the property, so going out of your way to get these details right works in your favor.

4. Make Safety a Priority

Fire alarms, smoke detectors, weather radios, fire extinguishers and more are all great safety features that should be worked into your home. Don’t forget a carbon monoxide alarm, while you’re thinking about safety. CO is extremely dangerous because it’s odorless and it can actually kill an entire family if it’s left in the house long enough. Having a CO meter can help you out a lot when it comes to protecting your family.

5. Handle Maintenance Fast

Insurance companies are still companies, even though they’re in the business of taking care of people. You want to make absolutely sure that youíre looking at taking care of the maintenance around the house. If there’s a claim triggered, and you haven’t handled necessary repairs, the company may reject it on the basis of wear and tear. You don’t want that to happen, so make sure that you spend upfront money now to prevent problems down the road.

These tips can keep your claim from getting rejected, which in turn can save you thousands of pounds when disaster strikes. Having a strong savings account that you can tap when the worst happens is also a good idea. It can be hard to withhold money for a rainy day, but you have to make sure that you are trying your best.