If you own a property and have got it insured, do not sit tight. There is more to do to ensure complete financial protection of your property against any damage and loss caused by unforeseen threats. Its time you know that you also need to file a property claim to get the insurance amount when required.
 
What is a property claim?
 
This kind of claim is a legal draft of the expenses of the damage caused to your insured property. Property claim agents assess the authenticity of your property insurance claim for its approval. Only after they approve the claim, will you be compensated for your insurance covering the damage to the property and also its reconstruction costs.
 
Types of property claim cover:
 
Property claim policies categorize the kind of damages with their own sets of guidelines. In fact, the amount you will get from the claim service will be determined by the type of policy you bought combined with the kind of loss and damage to your property as assessed by the agents. The major types of policies are:
 
- Personal Property: This covers the contents of your home interiors, including everything from your appliances, your bedding, furniture and what not.
- Real Property: This includes the building and land on which your home stands. The demarcation is necessary since a natural calamity such as a flood can damage both the building (Real Property), as well as the contents of your home (Personal Property).
- Liability: This insures your legal responsibility to others when you cause them loss or damage. This kind of policy is extensive and covers various daily situations. However, it does not include auto liability.
 
List of property claim companies
 
There are several companies, which offer consultancy to help the insured during the claim filing process. These services gather the details after a calamity and set an estimate of the damages to your property.
 
They guide homeowners while filing their property claims. Their help is vital in making sure you get the claim properly and on time.
 
Some of the top claim services are:
 
- ISO Property Claim Services (PCS) : Property Insurance Claims Experts
 
This company covers the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It assesses the damages and loss and furnishes its customers with the claim estimate. It provides its clients with serial numbers to keep track of their estimate that help them set loss provisions, depute a field adjuster and check internal company quotes so that their property claim is not erroneous due to lack of correct and adequate information.
 
-National Fire Adjustment (NFA) Co., Inc. : Property Insurance Claims Experts
 
NFA provides expert help with its specialized team of public accountants and legal counselors for your property insurance claim. It functions all through the week and caters to policies that deal with damages caused by fire, water, windstorm, explosion, and other sudden disasters.
 
Tips for filing a property claim
 
Though you may have a host of services to help you out, when you file your property claim, its good to know some of the fine points yourself. So check out the following tips and be confident of getting the right claim at the right time:

• Call the claim service provider the moment you are ready to make the claim. Do not put it off until tomorrow. Remember that the service provider, in most cases, will deduct $1,000 per claim, the moment you file the claim.

• Try to minimize the damage and loss to your property. Say, if your property has been damaged by fire call in a fire damage emergency service provider to salvage as much stuff as possible and clean up the mess.

• Safe keep all receipts and bills of expenses incurred during the salvage and clean up process. Also, keep all relevant documents and jot down the details of all that was done to minimize further property damage. Taking photographs of the damage and emergency restoration work can be of great help when you make the property claim. If your damage was due to robbery or theft, you also need to provide your claim agent with a copy of the police report.

• The insurance service provider should contact you within 48 hours depending upon the enormity of your damage and the availability of local field adjusters.

• If your policy contains "replacement cost" compensation, guide your field adjuster to ascertain the actual cost to restore or renovate your damaged property. Try to furnish the field adjuster with bills and cost estimate from local service providers and suppliers.

• Do not get rid of any damaged apparatus or property before the field adjuster has done his loss survey.

• Record your discussion with the field adjuster and the contractors who will provide you with the restoration estimate.

• If your policy includes loss of wages cover and you are unable to operate for more than three days due to the property hazard, you will need to provide the insurance company with proof of your income loss. So, get the relevant documents in place.

• Last but not the least, understand that you cannot make property damage claim for everything. Say, if you have a property loss or damage that you do not own (example some tenant improvements or hired appliances), you cannot make a claim for it. Similarly, you cannot claim for a loss caused by wear and tear and depreciation due to time, for instance a rotting wooden piece of furniture or an ill-maintained garage. No insurance policy covers such claims. So, be aware of such limitations and exclusions before you make a property claim.

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