Common Bad Faith Tactics Home Insurance Companies Use To Deny Hurricane Damage Claims
From late payments and reporting to a lack of documentation, there are, unfortunately, many valid reasons for which your insurance company might deny your hurricane home damage claim.
However, it’s also important to know about the bad faith tactics your insurance company might engage in to try to avoid paying what they owe when you’ve submitted a claim correctly.
If you feel your homeowner’s hurricane damage insurance claim was denied in bad faith, the bad faith insurance attorneys at Millin and Millin would be proud to help you fight for your rights to compensation. Keep reading to learn more about the signs that your claim may have been denied in bad faith.
1. Delayed Responses or Investigation
Communicating with your insurance company is already enough of a hassle without the added stress of slow responses. What’s worse is, your insurance company may be delaying its responses intentionally in an effort to wait out your claim.
If your attempts to reach out are repeatedly ignored or unanswered, your insurance company may be acting in bad faith. They may also attempt to unjustifiably delay the investigation of your claim, or they may fail to make a payment on your claim within a reasonable time.
2. Misrepresenting or Changing the Terms of Your Policy
Let’s face it: insurance policies can be confusing. Figuring out what types of damages are covered under what circumstances can be difficult, and some insurance companies attempt to take advantage of that fact to wrongfully deny or underpay claims. Your insurance company may state that your policy doesn’t cover part or all of the hurricane damage you’ve faced, whether or not that statement is true.
Another bad faith tactic home insurance companies may use to deny hurricane claims is by changing the terms of your policy and then arguing that the new terms of your policy won’t cover the damage. This is why it’s so important to keep track of your insurance documents: you can check the terms of your policy at the time the damage occurred to determine what’s covered.
3. Unreasonable Demands
Insurance companies have a lot more resources than the average person, and they know it. Some companies will use those resources in order to outmaneuver homeowners. For instance, your insurance company may try to swamp you with loads of paperwork to complete or review, or they may ask for excessive amounts of documentation or information not related to the claim.
Asking for unreasonable amounts of documentation is a common bad faith tactic used to deny hurricane insurance claims.
4. Forcing a Lawsuit
As we’ve established, insurance companies have the power to fight much harder against homeowners than homeowners can afford to fight back. Another way your insurance company may try to take advantage of that power imbalance is by forcing you to file a lawsuit against them in order to get the coverage that is rightfully yours.
This process isn’t easy or free, and your insurance company may hope that you’ll give up rather than go to the trouble of continuing to pursue the claim.