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Insurance claims are not a one size fits all. We wish we could tell you that after you file a claim your insurance company will come out to inspect and issue a payment for all the damages and then your claim will be closed in 3-6 months and you’ll never have to think about it again. The truth is, you could accept that payment and be done with your claim but that could mean leaving money on the table or not having all the repairs done correctly.

The duration of your claim can also depend on the type of homeowners or business insurance loss you have. For example, a hail claim can fall into the 3-6 month range whereas a total fire loss can last 1-2 years. Most of this depends on what you as the policy holder decides to do once you receive an estimate and payment from your claims adjuster.

The first thing you should do is review the estimate to make sure all of the damages are accounted for and that those items are accounted for correctly. Have someone you trust, like your public adjuster, to review the estimate for you. Most insurance companies account for structure related items only so the contents and personal property will need to be documented by you and prepared in a format easy for the claims adjuster to review. This is usually a longer process than the structure side of things.

Once you or your public adjuster submits your inventory to the insurance company, there are protocols and systems they use to verify and/or add values to your list of items.  From there the insurance company’s adjuster will review the list and issue payment. You will want this list thoroughly reviewed for accuracy in the same way as the structure estimate. Both of these review processes can take time and much negotiation between you/your public adjuster and the insurance company.

There’s also the recoverable depreciation time-frame listed in your certified policy that plays into your total claim time-frame if coverage is afforded. This means you have roughly six months to two years to recover any withheld amount with replacement receipts. Though the work may be complete on your home and you have replaced necessities, there is still an opportunity to receive money from your insurance claim.

We had a client whose fire happened in August 2020. During our first meeting with them we explained the entire claims process and let them know our license and services allow us to help them every step of the way until they have recovered every penny available to them. In December 2022 we had our final check exchange with this client and reminded them that we said we would be there till the end, and we were. No matter the size or type of insurance claim you have, calling your Oklahoma public adjuster to review and discuss how they can help could mean the difference of tens of thousands of dollars.