Help Us, Help You Help Us, Help You Prepare for a Loss

The kids just went back to school so now it’s your turn, get ready because this blog comes with some homework! Don’t worry, it’s easy peasy and we won’t grade too harshly.

We get it, the last thing you’d ever want to do is help your insurance company, right? But don’t take this blog as you helping us, but rather as you helping yourself. No one wants to think about their home being destroyed or damaged, but the unfortunate fact is it does happen. Whether it be a tornado, a house fire, or something else entirely it can turn you and your family’s life upside down.

We hope no one ever has to go through dealing with the loss of their home, but for those who do, having to sit down and recall all of the contents and “finishes” you had in your house is a big hassle (take a second and think, could you tell us everything that is in that catch-all room in your basement right now?). Now, most people know that contents are your belongings and personal items but, what do we mean by finishes? We mean your light fixtures, flooring, the type of countertops you have in your kitchen and bathrooms, your cabinet hardware, faucets, and pretty much anything that would go into bringing your home back to its condition prior to an incident.

Wouldn’t it be neat if you had a file that you could save which documented your contents and finishes? For instance a video on your phone, which most of us could do pretty easily, right? While taking the video you could call out details such as whether your fire place is brick or stone, you could give us a peek into your closet (no judgement on the shoe count, we promise), and maybe highlight any items of monetary value. Once said video is completed you would have a complete inventory of your home (or a good overall idea). Should a large loss occur, you now have video evidence for what the interior of your home looked like and what belongings you had (kinda nifty, right?). Along with this inventory video, if you were to put together a list of the main finishes in each of your rooms, along with their contents, that could be useful too. And, if you’re feeling like an overachiever you could even include serial/model numbers and approximate purchase dates for larger items.

So, the homework assignment we mentioned earlier, here it is:

Do a video inventory of your home. Go through each space, call out the finishes in each room, call out any contents that may be of higher value, and make a list of everything as well. We’ll let you in on a secret, you don’t even have to clean your house for the video, we promise, your adjuster won’t care (make sure you can see the floor and the walls but a little clutter doesn’t scare us. You should see some of the closets in our office lol). Pro Tip: Make sure you save your inventory to a place that can be accessed across devices. All that work would be a waste if the file is only on your laptop and it gets burned up in a fire.  

Having an inventory of your home can make the claims process much easier on your insurance company (but who cares about them, right?) more importantly, it can make it much easier on YOU. Then you won’t have to sit and scratch your head trying to remember how many serving dishes you had in your china cabinet or how many shelves full of shoes you had in your closet!

Have any questions about what you just read? Please contact your Independent Insurance Agent or email us at socialmedia@psmic.com!

Disclaimer: This is a general interpretation of processes and coverage. All claims are subject to Insuring Agreements, Endorsements, Exclusions, Terms, and Conditions of the Policy.

P.S. We’ll make you a deal, if you do the assignment you’ll get an automatic A, okay?