When your home is hit by a storm, fire, or theft, what happens to your personal property? Property damage in RI is stressful enough. Your electronics, furniture, clothes, everything you own has the possibility of being destroyed. Don’t worry, you may be covered! Homeowner’s insurance policies have a section called Personal Property or Contents insurance that will cover the items in your home. Contents damage in Cranston can be difficult to deal with alone, make sure you call Performance Adjusting to make certain you’re getting the money you deserve to clean or replace your things!
Contents Adjusters in Cranston
The average homeowner would not know how the value of an item and the price it would cost to be replaced. They also won’t know how to prove this to an insurance adjuster from their insurance company. You need to get the best contents adjuster in RI to do this for you! The contents adjusters here at Performance Adjusting have an arsenal of techniques to get the maximum value for your personal property. Also known as contents specialists, they use specific ways to get the most money for the items as they undergo a great deal of training in the field.
Clean vs Replace
Some things that have been damaged can be cleaned while others will need to be replaced. This all depends on what item is damaged, how severely the damage is, and what kind of damage has affected the item. Most importantly, our contents specialists know exactly what to say to make sure these items are covered.
Water Damage
Water damage in Cranston can range in the type of water and the severity of the damage. Category 1 water damage (clean water) will most often be cleaned as the water does not contain microbes, diseases or chemicals. Although, category 1 water can easily damage furniture like wooden tables and floors as the smallest bit of moisture can be absorbed and compromise the integrity of the wood causing it to warp or create weakness and break. Our top contents adjusters determine the severity of water damage in Cranston by testing the moisture in your belongings after they’re affected by water.
Although most insurance companies would rather clean than replace your items, sometimes items that are damaged by water cannot be cleaned. Whenever sewage or category 3 water touches your personal property, it must be replaced. This type of water can include fecal matter, bacterial diseases, and chemicals that can harm you.
Fire Damage & Soot Damage
Most of the time when your home is damaged by fire, anything the fire touches will be destroyed and must be replaced. Anything flammable will combust and most likely be beyond the point of restoration. That’s where we step in and prove to your insurance company that they have to replace the item. Other times, like in smaller house fires, your Cranston property might only get smoke and soot damage. When this happens, there is still a fair chance that your items can be replaced.
Let’s say you have a small fire in your kitchen that does not spread to other areas of the house. You may think you’ll just have to replace your cabinets, appliances and other items in your kitchen. That could be the case, but soot travels upwards! Soot could’ve traveled to your upstairs bedroom that would require your furniture, mattress, carpets, and walls to either be cleaned or replaced. Most insurance adjusters from your insurance company won’t bother checking to see if other areas of your home are damaged. That’s why you need Performance Adjusting at your property to make sure you don’t settle for anything less!
Limits on Coverage
Standard personal property insurance in Cranston covers typical items like your furniture, your bed, and your appliances. But what about your other valuable items? Things like jewelry, artwork, electronics, and documents become a little tricky to clean and recover after a covered loss.
Electronics Damage
Your $2,000 laptop can be easily damaged by water, fire, or smoke. But is it easily cleaned? It depends. Performance Adjusting will do their best to restore your electronics. We send all damaged electronics to a company called CRDN based out of Warwick to clean the damage. We will also use this company to clean any clothes that could’ve been affected. If they cannot be cleaned to the point of full restoration, we will submit to your insurance company to get them replaced.
Documents and Photo Damage
We understand that your family photos are sentimental and important to you. Unfortunately, they have no monetary value and cannot be replaced when you have contents damage in Cranston. Your documents (Birth Certificates, Tax Forms, etc.) also do not hold any monetary value. Thankfully, we will do our best to restore them. In order to do this, we spread them out to dry and use a negative air machine to suck the moisture out. It is a smart idea to invest in a fire and waterproof safe like this one to protect your documents and photos.
Jewelry, Artwork, & Collectibles
Even though these along with your expensive electronics are the first to go when you have theft at your property, they often either are not covered by your contents insurance at all or if they are, the limits for these items are very low. If you have a lot of art, jewelry, or collectibles, it would be beneficial to get a rider on your insurance policy. This would require you to get an appraiser to take a look at each item and asses a value to them, similar to when you’d bring something to a pawn shop. It is also important to keep a record or receipt when purchasing or acquiring valuable items.
Actual Cost Value vs Replacement Cost Value
Not all insurance policies are the same! When you choose your insurance coverage, you have the choice between actual cost value coverage or replacement cost value coverage, also known as ACV and RCV.
Actual cost value coverage will account for depreciation of the item in question. If you bought a television for $800 in 2015, it might only be worth $450 now, so that is what the insurance company would give you for the TV in the event of damage beyond repair.
Replacement cost value coverage is better but more expensive. RCV coverage means that your insurance company will pay out what it will cost to replace items that are the same quality. That same TV could be worth $450 now, but the insurance company will give you the full $800.
What Do I Do Now?
If you have property damage in Cranston, we’re very sorry to hear about that. We know just how frustrating that can be! We’re available to help you 24/7 for emergency restoration services through our sister company, Performance Restoration at 401-724-9111. If you need the best public adjuster in Cranston on your side, click here for a free consultation on your contents damage insurance claim. Remember, we work for you, not the insurance company so we will get you the most money for your insurance claim in RI!
If your home in Cranston, RI or anywhere else in RI, MA, CT, PA, NC, SC, or FL, has contents damage, call Performance Adjusting and we will help you and get you the money you need and more! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram for more information about what we do!
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