Personal property claims can be some of the most frustrating claims in the insurance claims process. The deck is stacked against you if you have any kind of insurance policy that insures your personal property. This is true for property owned by homeowners and renters as well as the personal property owned by businesses and other commercial entities.

Personal property, also commonly known as "Contents," is usually described as any property in or on the insured premises not permanently attached to the building. Naturally, your policy will give you a definition that is more exact that this one, and will also have exclusions about some property that is not covered.

Many property insurance policies have the Replacement Cost (RC) Endorsement on the policy that covers the contents. The claims process for your Contents is the trap laid by the insurance companies. Don't think that your insurer wouldn't do that to you...they ALL do it.

Here's the method of settlement found in all policies with the Replacement Cost Endorsement.

You submit your contents claim inventory. On that inventory you will have listed all of your contents, item by item, and the replacement cost. The insurance company will apply depreciation to each item of your contents, based upon its age and condition. Subtracting the depreciation amount from the replacement cost gives you the Actual Cash Value (ACV) of your property, whether business or personal.

The insurance company settles RC claims by issuing two separate checks. The first check will be for the ACV amount. According to the Loss Conditions in the policy, the insurer only pays you the RC of your contents once the replacement has been made.

For example, if you had an item with an RC value of $1000, and the depreciation amount was 30%, or $300, you would receive the first payment of $700. But, $700 does not replace the item. In order to receive the RC amount you will have to use $300 of your own money plus the $700 paid by the insurance company to make the replacement purchase. Then you are eligible for the second check, the $300 reimbursement.

Now...think about the same example if your entire contents claim is $100,000.

The insurance company "holds back" $30,000. In order for you to make the replacement purchases, you will have to find $30,000 of your own money, make the purchases, and then get reimbursed by the insurance company.

Where are you going to get that $30,000? Savings? Credit Card? Get a loan? Or perhaps you're like many people that don't have those cash resources available to them. They cannot make the replacements at all.

Do you see the trap?

Here is a strategy of three things you can do to minimize the effects of the Depreciation Trap.

1. Demand that the insurance company provide you a copy of the Depreciation Tables that they used to calculate your loss.

2. Compare each item, line by line, to be certain that the proper amount of depreciation was assessed by the adjuster.

3. Challenge any and all incorrect depreciation amounts.

By using this three-step strategy, you will maximize your Contents claim amount.

There is another Contents strategy that you MUST use when documenting your Personal Property claim. It relates to the personal property you won't be replacing.

I knew a family that had a major fire loss. The wife was an attorney for many years. Then, when she had her first child, she decided to leave the business world and be a full-time mom. She had a closet full of expensive business suits, blouses, shoes and accessories. She was not going to replace them, since she was not using them any more for work clothing. So, we worked hard at establishing the highest possible value on her wardrobe. The ACV money that the family was paid for her wardrobe was used to make RC purchases of other items that did need replacing.

You can use this strategy in your Contents claim. Your home, condo, apartment or business is full of personal property that you've purchased over the years that (a) is obsolete or (b) you're not using anymore. A business could have inventory items or office equipment that is unsold or obsolete. In each case, you have every right to be paid the correctly calculated ACV for those items. Then, you can use those dollars to offset the "holdback" amount when you are making your replacement purchases.

Don't be a pushover! Don't allow the insurance company to depreciate your Contents without a fight!

Fight back and WIN!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Russell_Longcore

The idea of insurance is in principle a great one, as it allows you to protect yourself against losing items which are valuable to you and would cost a lot to replace. However like with all good things in life there is a downside, and with insurance it is the cost involved in protecting your items.

Insurance can be very expensive, especially if you choose to take out lots of it. Whilst there are some things you need to insure such as yourself, your income, your home and your car, most people waste a lot of money by insuring all the small things they own. Of course this does mean they will be financially protected should anything happen to those items, but it also means they will have large expenses which they must pay each month.

This isn't so bad if you can afford to pay these expenses, but if you are insuring your new computer for example, instead of insuring your income, then this is a big mistake, as losing your income because you are unable to work is going to hurt you a lot more than loosing your computer.

So the basic message when it comes to taking out insurance is to protect the most important things first, the things that are going to cost you a lot of money if anything were to happen to them. Then you can worry about protecting the smaller items you own, because unless they are essential to your livelihood, then loosing them probably won't be the end of the world.

Keeping Your Costs Down

To help you keep the cost of your insurance policies down, it is generally recommended to get the largest deductible you can afford. A deductible is the amount of money you must pay before your insurance company will pay out for any claim you make.

The larger the deductible the lower your premiums will be, which means in the long term your policy is going to cost you less. It does however mean that you will have to pay more for any claim you make, since you will only receive compensation for what is left over after subtracting your deductible. So whilst it may be tempting to get a very large deductible, there is no point in doing so if you won't be able to afford paying it.

Getting a lower deductible may seem like it works out a better deal, as you will be able to claim more on your insurance and will be compensated more. However this is not the case, as if you make frequent claims (which you are likely to do with a lower deductible) your premiums are likely to increase which means your policy is going to end up costing you a lot.

So when it comes to insurance just remember to protect the most important things first, and then worry about the smaller things later. By following this simple advice you could end up saving yourself a lot of money, which you could then use for other things.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_David_Peters

Accidents can occur due to any reason. They can occur while walking or driving. The majority of the accidents result due to road traffic accident. Roads are indeed a dangerous place to be in. You may never know when you may end up meeting with an accident. In spite of the best precautions and safety measures that you may follow, you may meet with an accident.

If you or any of your family members has met with an accident due to the fault of someone, you can surely make a claim. Immediately after an accident, you must report the incident to a police station and state who was responsible for the accident. The police officials will request you to provide the details as to how the accident occurred and also ask for the proof about the injuries suffered. You can provide medical reports supporting the claim.

This can provide proof of the injuries suffered stating the cause of injury and the extent of loss suffered. It will substantiate your claim and fasten up the claims procedure too. Moreover, approaching traffic injury claim lawyer or solicitor will also help you get compensation quickly. It will ease the burden to a large extent. The solicitors will guide you get compensation quickly. They can also guide a claimant how to proceed with the case and the documents to be furnished to make a successful claim.

There are various types of road traffic injury claims. Road accidents claims vary in terms of the people involved, the type of accident and the resultant injury incurred:

• drivers
• cyclists
• collision with an emergency vehicle
• motor cyclist accidents or pillion rider
• passenger injuries
• pedestrians
• hit and run victims - even if the other party was uninsured
• road traffic accidents abroad
• whiplash injuries

It is estimated that all around the world millions of people are injured on the roads every year in traffic accidents. The accident claims solicitors can help compensation to such people in a short period of time. They can also help such people rebuild their lives and seek compensation from the person who was responsible for the injury. Most of their clients include drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

They act on their behalf and help get compensation quickly. It is suggested one must take quick action after an accident. You must not ignore the situation and take immediate corrective measures. Traffic accident claims solicitors can help get quick compensation. They are experts in the field if claims cases and can provide the valuable advice on making a claim.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sadhna_D

Insurance is just the word used by companies when they sell a person a policy to protect them against financial loss. Financial losses take many forms, there can be a risk to our investments, liabilities for our actions and risks for our ability to earn an income. When we speak of insurance we speak of the insurer which is the company that provides the insurance and the insurer that is the recipient of the coverage. There are mainly two types of insurance life insurance and non-life. Life insurance policies either pay at a defined amount at the time of death or some may pay at maturity while others work almost as a savings account till maturity. In this article I would like to highlight some of the principles of insurance.

First, there are some policies that fall under the category of definite loss. This is when a loss happens at a definite time, in a definite place, from a definite cause such in the case of a death.

Second, there is unintentional or accidental loss, this is an incident that happens that is out of the control of the insured and not beneficial to them.

Third, there is huge loss insurance, in this case the size of the loss must be meaningful from the perspective of the insured. The insurance premiums need to cover both the expected cost of losses, plus the cost issuing and administering the policy. adjusting the loses,and supplying the capital needed to assure that the insurer will be able to pay the claims.

Lastly. affordable premium insurance this is if the probability of an event is so high or the cost of the event is so large making the cost of the premium so high that no one is likely to buy the insurance or even offer the insurance.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bryan_Burbank