There is a fire. Or maybe it's a flood. Perhaps it's a burglary. No matter what the catastrophe, there you are, staring at the leftovers of what used to be an expensive, potentially precious object or room or even house.

Thankfully, you have insurance.

You might feel a little overwhelmed - what happens now? What can you do next? Once you let your insurance know that there's a problem, what steps do they take? Sometimes, this extra bit of knowledge is enough to ease your mind as you move through the process of reimbursement or replacement of your items. If your insurance carrier uses third-party software (which many do), here is a brief summary of the steps your claim will move through.

Entering Your Claim

There are a few options here. In the first, you contact your insurance and they assign you to an adjuster who will let you know how to inventory the items which were lost or damaged. You'll give all relevant information to your adjuster, and then this interaction is entered into a system that will format it correctly for your specific policy type.

Alternately, you might have lost a large amount of items, or not be certain of what you can claim. If that is the case, many third-party partners can have a trained professional help you determine ages, prices, and model types over the phone, and some will even send a person to your home to help you, if requested.

Transcription

If you sent in an inventory yourself, this is the next step. Here, employees will transcribe your claim, taking your information provided and finding exact names, model numbers, and products. If your items no longer exist, a comparable model will be phone. If you provided a handwritten list, this will be typed up so it can be more easily processed.

Appraisal

Now that a final list is put together, pricing will occur. Items are appraised for the appropriate value, whether for replacement or actual cash value, depending on your policy. Antiques and jewelry will be sent to experts for fair pricing, and age might be considered in assigning a value.

Review

This is the last step. Here, the third party will go over their data, and then reconnect with your adjuster. Everything will be double and triple checked before it comes back to you, likely through your adjuster.

Sometimes, your adjuster will take care of everything themselves directly, and they might be the only person you communicate with personally. However, this is a sneak peek at what is happening to your claim behind the scenes. To learn more, contact a company like Holtzman Insurance Agency Inc. with any questions you have.