How To Protect Your Possessions
By Jeffrey Strain, March 7th, 2007 | One Comment
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when getting insurance for their household possessions is not making an inventory of everything they own. That’s because if a claim does have to be made, the insurance companies are going to want proof and not just your word:
Without documentation, one of two things will usually happen when you file a claim; both are to your disadvantage:
1. You simply can’t remember all of your possessions and file a claim based on what you can remember at that time. Since this is a time of high stress, you will most likely forget a large number of the items you owned and won’t receive the full amount you are due. (This can become even more frustrating as time goes by and you remember more things you owned but forgot to claim.)
2. You try to claim everything that you owned, but because you have no documented proof, some of your claims are denied by the insurer.
In the digital age, there is no reason not to make a digital inventory and it will only take about an hour to do so. You can see how in my latest article at TheStreet.com
GREAT information. I work for an insurance company and we will pay for EVERYTHING in the house. The hard part is getting an accurate description of the entire contents of a person’s home.
Yesterday, we had an insured with a total loss who had an accurate inventory. Because of that, we were able to pay her for every clothes hanger, every strand of Christmas lights, etc.
If she hadn’t done the inventory you suggest, she would have gotten much less because the loss would no be substantiated.
We cannot pay if there is no proof that the objects existed.