A fire occurred. Damage from smoke destroyed your carpeting. Perhaps a pipe frozen in the home led to significant water damage. Your renters insurance may help you to recoup the losses from these types of incidents.
The good news is this type of insurance is often comprehensive enough to cover most of what you’ve lost as a result of the incident. This may include your damaged flooring.
Is the Incident Covered?
The first step in filing a claim like this is to contact your renters insurance agent to make sure the type of incident that occurred is a type of covered loss.
Your property insurance is likely to offer coverage that protects from incidents related to fire, theft, some types of water damage, and vandalism. Once you verify that the damage is from an incident related to the coverage you have, you can then file the claim with your agent.
What Will The Policy Cover?
Most home insurance policies will provide comprehensive protection. However, this differs from one policy to the next.
You’ll need to take a closer look at the exact details of your plan to know what your plan covers. Common types of renters insurance may include:
- The removal of any damaged or lost items as a result of the claim.
- Any repair work you are responsible for. This is often limited in renters insurance since the property owner’s plan generally covers the structural damage in a large incident like a fire.
- The replacement of the items lost.
If a fire, for example, occurs in your rented property and you are responsible for the fire, renters insurance may cover the cleanup, any repairs necessary, and the replacement of items such as carpeting. However, if the claim extends beyond your specific liability, it may be up to the property owner to cover the damage and repairs including carpet replacement.
But, be warned. Insurance may also need to determine that you were not negligent in the cause of the damages. If you are held to be at fault for damage, you may not get a payout, or the payout may be reduced. This varies from policy to policy, and from insurer to insurer.
The details of what happened and who is to blame will play a significant role in this type of claim. Work closely with your renters insurance company to determine if your losses have protection as well as what your plan covers.
Also, work with your property owner to ensure that any damage is properly repaired if the property owner is responsible for it. Renters insurance can help you to recover most of your losses in covered incidents.
Learn more about what renters insurance covers today. Do you have questions about what your renters insurance covers? Call us today at (713) 349-0400.