Reasons Insurance Companies Deny Fire Claims

If your home suffers fire damage, the only thing you can do afterward is to file an insurance claim. Sadly, insurers have the right to deny your fire claim, and it happens more often than you think.

Generally, home insurance claims (including fire claims) have the lowest success rate. Getting an understanding of the top reasons your insurance company may deny your fire claim will help you improve your chances. 

Continue reading to learn about some of the most common reasons insurance companies deny fire claims. 

Misrepresentation of Fact

Insurers may turn down a fire claim because of misinterpretation. This includes misinterpretation of certain details, outright lying, or omitting crucial information. 

For example, if your cat knocked over a candle that led to a house fire, you should tell the truth. Saying that the candle tipped over on its own or omitting the fact that the candle led to a fire will lead to you being accused of misinterpretation - which will most likely jeopardize your claim. 

We understand that you’re worried about a claim denial if you provide all the facts, but you have nothing to lose. The insurance company will investigate the fire incident and learn the truth either way. 

By misrepresenting the facts, you can only minimize the chances of your claim being successful.

Inadequate or Insufficient Coverage

One of the top reasons your insurance company may deny your fire claim is if they learn you have insufficient coverage. This means that your policy doesn’t cover the type of damages or the incident. 

For instance, your policy might cover fire damage, but not water or smoke damage. In this situation, you could only recover some of the damages but not the amount necessary to make full repairs. 

Although the insurer can only pay you for covered perils according to the policy, in some cases, they may wrongly reject your claim. This is why it’s important to be familiar with your policy. 

If you believe that the fire damage is covered in your policy but the insurer denied your claim, ask for assistance from residential fire and smoke claims public adjusters. They can review your policy closely and determine the best path forward. 

Defective Workmanship 

If the design of your home contributed to the fire or a portion of the structure was poorly built, the insurer may use it as grounds to reject your claim. For example, the contractor who built the home used defective materials or chose those with poor fire protection. 

This is a common tactic and you may need a legal professional to help you defend against it. 

Negligence

An insurer may dismiss a fire claim if they believe the fire was caused by property negligence. As a policyholder, you’re responsible for the property and must take all reasonable steps and precautions to minimize the damage or loss.

To demonstrate, the insurance company may refuse your claim if a fire started in the kitchen and you made no efforts to contain the fire or call the emergency services. Similarly, in situations in which a fire alarm stops working and hence exacerbates the fire damage, the faulty alarm could be considered sufficient grounds for rejecting a fire claim. 

Suspected Arson

Fraud and suspected arson are some of the biggest reasons insurance companies deny fire claims. In many cases, the insurance company may raise this concern to avoid paying out the claim.

This falls into the category of insurance fraud and the trial will be necessary to determine the actual cause of the fire. 

Valuation Dispute

An insurance company can easily circumvent paying out a fire claim by disputing the valuations or claiming that you lack proof of the damages. 

When filing a claim, you must document the value of all your property. including valuables and other insured items. If you fail to verify costs or provide evidence about the value of items, chances are that you won’t receive compensation. 

This is why you should keep all records from the time your home was under construction, as well as any receipts and before and after photos of the items. 

Missed Premiums

If you miss your premium payments, the insurance company will deny your fire claim. This also applies to cases in which you missed paying the premiums on time. Among all the reasons insurance companies turn down fire claims, this one is fairly reasonable, so always make sure to pay your insurance premiums. 

What Should You Do If the Insurer Denies Your Claim?

Fortunately, you always can challenge the insurer’s decision by requesting they reassess the claim. Upon validating the request, the insurance company will reevaluate all the factors they considered when making their previous decisions.

Chances are they’ll deny the claim again unless you make use of services by residential fire and smoke claims public adjusters. An adjuster can help you find additional evidence that proves your case, and will even negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf. 

The strength of residential and commercial fire and smoke claims public adjusters lies in their experience with insurance company tactics. After all, most public adjusters honed their skills working for the insurers at some point in their careers.

Thus, it’s useful to have an expert with insider knowledge on your side. 

Can You Prevent Your Fire Claim from Being Denied?

Hiring residential or commercial fire and smoke claims public adjusters from the onset of the claim is the best way to prevent your claim from being denied. Still, if you insist on doing everything on your own, here are some things you should do to increase the likelihood of a successful fire claim:

• Pay your insurance premiums on time
• File the insurance claim as soon as possible
• Fill out the paperwork correctly
• Document all the damage and create a list of items that contains all the receipts
• Learn about the terms of your policy and ascertain whether you need to purchase additional coverage

Maximize Your Fire Claim ASAP

Using the tips provided above, you can approach the claims process with a new level of confidence. Nevertheless, the reasons insurance companies deny fire claims we spoke about are just the most common ones. There are no limits to what an insurer may do to reject the claim or at least minimize its value. 

To increase your chances of success and ensure you recover the highest insurance settlement offer, hire Continental Public Adjusters. 

Since 1982, our mission has been to help the citizens of Florida recover the funds they’re entitled to under their policies. We’ve been successful so far - the number of happy clients proves it.

We can help you too - schedule a claim review by calling (800) 989-4769 or fill out our contact form.