Do you know what your deductibles are for the post storm recovery?
Hurricane Sandy, just like Hurricane Irene may not be classified as a true Hurricane. This information will be available days after the storm and will need to be verified by the National Weather Service. If you do sustain damage, please talk to your insurance agent to determine if the damage you have sustained is worth putting into the insurance company. The insurance companies are already inundated with claims and if it is not necessary, you will save time and money, by not putting in the claim.
By no means, am I preaching to wait to fix damage or put in claims. If you have sustained significant damage and are in danger, please call 911. If you have sustained significant damage and need to mitigate the loss, you can call your local ServPro office and they will send out a crew to patch up holes in the roof or windows
in order to prevent further damage. More often than not, the emergency repair work is covered by your insurance carrier.
During storms such as this Hurricane Sandy or Frankenstorm and that of Hurricane Irene, damages consist of wind blown debris, wind driven rain, sump pump and water back up caused by power outages, flood and of course trees coming down. Most of these are covered, but it is important to know how it is covered and what the deductible associated with the damage is. Many home owner policies do not cover sump pump and water back up. This coverage is often an add on and many shoppers will leave it off in order to save a few dollars. In my opinion, this is one of the most important coverages.
When your deductibles are concerned, there are often differences between Fire, Wind and Hurricane. Carriers differ in their beliefs and ratings when it comes to these deductibles. There are many companies that will require a 5% Wind Deductible. 5% refers to the deductible being that percentage of total Dwelling coverage, also know as Coverage A. If your policy covers $400,000 in dwelling, that Wind deductible will be $20,000. This is often overlooked in relation to purchasing a policy. The difference, would be that this may be good in this situation, because Hurricane Sandy will not be making landfall as hurricane and those homeowners with Hurricane Deductibles will be spared. This however may not be the case if you have a 5% Wind Deductible. That 5% will follow you for any wind event, regardless of the speed of the wind.
In the low lying areas and coastal communities, these deductible are extremely common today and are nothing we can avoid. If our storms continue heavy on an annual basis, we will start to see wind coverage fall off all together or become extremely expensive.
Please check your insurance policy or call your insurance agent to check your coverage and deductible. It is important to have this conversation after the storm and be aware of what you have for the future. Know your policies, because it is you that is paying the bill for the insurance and for the clean up.
Stay safe out there!
