Everyone has insurance in case something happens. It is there to protect you and cover any losses you may incur during a disaster. Unfortunately, it’s not always quite that simple.
When you file a claim your insurance company has to pay out. And while that is why you have insurance in the first place, they need to make sure that all the damage they are paying for actually happened when it did.
Why Do Insurance Companies Hire Engineer Firms?
Well, the easy answer is because they don’t want to pay you. Unfortunately, there are going to be people only interested in scamming people. It’s a sad commentary on society but there it is.
There are also people who make fraudulent claims, so it’s easy to understand why insurance companies are leery. But they shouldn’t be hiring engineers for every claim.
If your claim is legitimate and your insurance company is claiming there were other factors, make sure you get to the bottom of it. And then cancel your policy.
Insurance Companies Want a Second Opinion
It’s not uncommon for an insurance company to hire an engineering firm. Most insurance companies, while providing you with protection, are for-profit organizations. They make more money when they don’t have to pay claims.
If you have a claim denied or you received less money than you had anticipated, that likely means the insurance company suspects there is something wrong.
When an insurance company doesn’t want to pay, either legally or not, you as the policyholder can appeal their decision, contact a lawyer and fight their decision.
When an insurance company is challenged, they will often turn to an engineer to investigate. The engineer can find issues with the building that can be used against the policy-holder, whether accurate or not, and then your claim is refused.
What Engineers Look For in their Inspection
If you are filing a claim to your insurance company for damages to your home or business due to fire, storms, flooding, and other natural disasters or no fault of your own, the insurance company will often challenge it.
There could be any number of loopholes that the engineer can find that will allow the insurance company a chance at plausible deniability. This frees the insurance company to hide behind mistakes that are not their problem. But, they are most often not the policyholder’s problem, either.
The engineer may inspect your roof, your shingles, the foundation of your home, looking for damages or any pre-existing conditions that they can use against the policyholder.
They may also find maintenance problems in the building, like plumbing or electricity, they will look at the date of the loss, spatter marks, and any other collateral damages, as well.
What Can I Do?
If you feel that your insurance company is trying to get out of paying you by using a report prepared by an engineer, there are a few things you can do.
Ask For The Report
Take a good look at the report and make sure there is nothing fraudulent or wrong. There could be something in the report that simply isn’t true. Make sure everything in it happened and is accurate.
Get Another Opinion
Get an inspection on your own, but not through your insurance company. They will simply send another engineer that they hire to file the same report. Get an independent inspection of the damages.
Get Legal Advice
Seek legal advice. They can help you find your way through the mess. However, make sure it will be worth the cost. Don’t pay a lawyer more than you are anticipating from your insurance claim.
Show them all the paperwork you have, the insurance policy, report, and all the items you have. They will be able to set you up with other services you may need, many of them free.
Check Out The Engineers
Get an up-close look into the firm or individual that wrote the report and completed the inspection. All too often, these engineers only do this type of work for insurance companies.
There may be a case for you here. If the engineer knows nothing about foundations, only the basics, then why would they be inspecting it in the first place?