If someone burglarizes your Newark, New Jersey home and makes off with your computer, television and set of solid brass candlestick holders, you can file a claim under your contents coverage of your home insurance policy. If a fire damages your home in Livingston, call your insurer and file a claim for the damages. If you have visitors at your Montclair, New Jersey home and someone falls and gets hurt, your insurance can protect you against any liability you may have.

Damages to your home or contents can be settled in a relatively short period of time, or sometimes, it can take months and months to get your claim settled.

Insurance companies are not going to pay out any claim without first having some evidence of the loss. When you have solid and indisputable evidence of your loss, your claim can be expedited and settled in a short time. However, if the best you can do is say you lost everything you owned inside of your home, it will take the insurance company longer to investigate and come up with an offer to settle your claim.

By strong evidence, we mean taking pictures of your furniture, television, computer and any other items that cost more than a few dollars to replace. You should also attach the original receipt showing the item, purchase date and amount you paid for it when it was purchased. It is also very helpful to leave any damaged items in their current condition and not try to clean them up or patch them back together, at least until the adjuster has a chance to evaluate your loss.

Your claim for damages to the contents inside your home, or the damages to the structure, will be settled based upon the evidence you provide and the evidence the adjuster sees. As your independent agent, we would suggest you keep good records of your inventory and try to mitigate further damage to your home while the claim process is taking place. Hopefully, you will be satisfied with the settlement offered by your insurance company, but if not, you always have the option of negotiation or arbitration before agreeing to accept your insurance company’s offer to settle.