(WHDH) — Lots of people are looking out their windows today and seeing disaster. And your insurance coverage for your house and car and possessions will depend on your insurance policies. Some will even cover removal of trees from your yard, food that spoiled in power outages and emergency housing.
So here’s what you need to know.
Destruction and damage, if you’ve been hit by this storm, it’s important you follow very specific steps to put in an home or auto insurance claim and do it immediately.
First, check out your policies. Homeowners Insurance typically does not cover water damage that’s caused by flooding, but many do cover the damage if the water that comes in “from above” like heavy rain.
For your car? If you have comprehensive coverage on your vehicle, it will cover most types of storm damage.
Flood Insurance is different; if you’re in a flood zone with a separate federal flood insurance policy, it’s quite limited in what it covers.
So what do you do now?
- Take pictures
- Call your insurance agent or company as soon as possible
- Make a detailed list of everything that was damaged
- If possible, wait to schedule repairs until the claim has been settled with your insurance company
- If emergency repairs are needed, keep all the copies of bills and invoices
- Write down the names and contact information of any witnesses
- If the police or fire department responded, get copies of the reports
So many answers depend on your specific situation, so if you have questions about insurance and storm damage, here’s more information from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy:
http://www.mass.gov/ago/consumer-resources/storms-and-recovery.html
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)