Case Study: Hurricane Damage Insurance Claim

One of the most interesting case studies for hurricane damage happened to one Linda Margarette of Fort Lauderdale. What made her case particularly interesting was how average it was. The damages to Margarette’s home had been a perfect example of how much damage even a middling hurricane can inflict on a standard home in Florida.  

Additionally, Margarette’s difficulties with her insurance company typifies the challenges most home owners face with regards to filing their insurance claims for hurricane damages. The claims process had been stacked against her, and had she not hired the services of a public insurance adjuster, her insurance settlement would have been considerably smaller than what she had received. 

So let’s take a look at Linda Margarette’s experiences with All Pro Adjusters and how we helped her get the most out of her hurricane insurance policy. 

How It All Started

Margarette’s insurance claim case began a few years ago when her home was devastated by a relatively average hurricane. According to most reports, it travelled up to 65 km per hour and had a wind speed of around 120 km per hour. The hurricane devastated not only Margarette’s home but large sections of her neighborhood as well.

Needless to say, the disaster had been very bad, and had destroyed large sections of Margarette’s home. So as soon as things settled down, Margarette contacted her local repair company and informed them about her situation. They came over, assessed the house and gave her a quote for their services.

The quote was $16,820, and Margarette definitely didn’t have that kind of money. So she immediately called her insurance company to file a claim. We won’t discuss the name of company for legal reasons but it was easily one of the most popular ones at Fort Lauderdale, and they had a good reputation when it came to dealing with their customers. Despite these qualities, they still sought to avoid paying Margarette what they owed her. 

The insurance company sent their private insurance adjusters over to her home to assess the damages. What they found had greatly disappointed her. According to the company’s adjusters, Margarette only needed $12,113 to cover her hurricane damages, and the insurance company would not pay more than that amount.  

Needless to say, the adjusters’ findings were substantially smaller than what she had expected. In fact, it couldn’t even cover the total cost of repairing her home. 

Later, Margarette learned that her insurance company’s adjusters had only noted the damaged roofs, windows and ceilings. They had ignored the other damages that her repair company had identified, such as her flooded basement, her ruined yard and the various debris littered all over her property. 

Margarette called her insurance company to complain, but they politely and courteously informed her that they couldn’t do anything. Unless Margarette could present her own evidence to prove her case, the insurance company will side with their insurance adjusters. 

Margarette’s Insurance Policy

Margarette’s ‘hurricane insurance policy’ consisted of several smaller policies that were designed to cover damages caused by hurricanes, thunder storms and various natural disasters. These smaller policies covered things, like floods, torn roofs, water damage, broken windows and many more. 

The reason why the insurance company’s adjusters had given Margarette such a small estimate was because some of the damages to her property were vague and difficult to classify.

For example, her flooded basement could easily be described as water damage, but the insurance adjusters argued that the water had seeped into her basement after the hurricane had passed through the neighborhood.

Likewise, they also argued that some of the damages to Margarette’s property were the result of her negligence, which means that they were inadmissible for her claim. 

This is why the private insurance adjusters had given Margarette such a small estimate. There was enough ambiguity in her situation for them to argue which parts of her house had been damaged by the hurricane and which ones had been damaged by unrelated factors. Margarette needed help, and that’s why she came to us.

Contacting ALL PRO Adjusters

Margarette was angry with her insurance company and she was prepared to argue her case. So she looked for a public insurance adjuster who could help her. After a week of searching, Margarette finally contacted All Pro Adjusters during a calm Monday morning. Her home was still in shambles but at least now she had a plan. So we drove to her place to begin our assessments.

We began with a quick evaluation of her property and then informed her of our initial impressions. When she gave us the go signal, we immediately began assessing every part of her home, including those areas which have not been directly damaged by the hurricane.

Her bathroom had been damaged, along with most parts of her kitchen. Her roof had also sustained damage, as well as her porch. Unbeknownst to her, large parts of her backyard had also been damaged, and her basement had sustained water damage in multiple areas.

Her insurance company’s insurance adjusters argued that these damages were not covered by her policy. We believed otherwise, and our team had prepared the necessary documents and evidence to prove that the damages to her porch, yard and basement also needed to be covered by her insurance policy. 

When we had finished our investigations, we immediately put together a counter-settlement for Margarette’s insurance company. We identified over 12 different damages that should be covered by her insurance policy. Additionally, we also contested some of the private insurance adjuster’s findings and conclusions by presenting our own. 

After a little negotiation, we managed to convince Margarette’s insurance company to give her $19,885 to cover her repair expenses. Thanks to the added funds, Margarette now had enough money to repair every damaged part of her home. As soon as her funds were cleared, she immediately contacted her repair company and they immediately went to work repairing her home.