How to Be Prepared for an Insurance Claim

In a recent post I discussed the impacts of filing a claim on your insurance costs and I said I would also be sharing how to prepare for an insurance claim before it happens.  I hope you would agree it’s always best to be prepared before something happens!  So what are some tips to help you be prepared in case you need to file a claim with your home or auto insurance?

1. Have a home inventory

Begin by listing off the easiest and largest items such as computers, furniture, televisions and other electronics, appliances, and jewelry.  Then begin adding in other smaller items such as kitchen utensils, clothing, toys, tools, etc.  You will want to make a complete list of everything in your home, garage, storage shed(s), and barn(s).  I would encourage you to itemize it by room and building.  This way if only part of a building is damaged, you can easily sort it.

2. Take pictures

It is not hard in our digital age to take pictures of all the rooms in your home.  Be sure to get all the various angles including paintings on the wall, anything special done to the ceiling, etc.  Also, open up the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom, as well as the closets.  It will amaze you how many items we forget.  Be sure to get the manufacture’s name in the picture including turning over china to get the pattern and manufacture’s name.  Also, make sure to take pictures of antiques and any inscribings or other markings on them.  You would be surprised at the number of people who find out Grandma’s old “such and such” was worth a couple of thousand dollars!

3.  Keep information handy

Keep contact information and policy numbers in one location that is easy to find.  You will also want to make sure that you have adequate coverage for your belongings, and if you keep an up to date inventory, it is very easy to see if you have that or may be lacking.

4. Protect your information

You can protect your information by placing a copy of all the information you collected in your safe at home if you have one or a fireproof box.  Also, put a copy in your safe deposit box if you have one.  Then I would also encourage you to give a copy to a family member or friend who lives outside of your neighborhood.  If your area is prone to forest fires, you might even want to give a copy to someone you know and trust outside of the state.

5.  Store other important information

Add to the location where you keep your home information, a copy of your auto records such as a copy your purchase receipt, auto registration, and other information including your VIN.  You will also want to keep copies of anything you added to the car such as a special radio, GPS, etc.  You may also want to take some photos of the interior of the car especially if you store CDs, a MP3 player, or other items in the car.

Putting all these tips into action will hopefully help save quite a few headaches if you ever have to file an insurance claim which we all hope doesn’t happen…but life does happen.