The Home-Insurance Coin Flip: Nearly Half of Claims Result in Zero Payout

[Raftergirl]

24. I had a water claim a few years back. All the basements on my block flooded because a storm drain behind our

houses backed up because the town had no record it was even there and never cleaned it out in decades. My insurance company (Nationwide) was fantastic. All I had to do was take pictures and email them to NW, the submit bill to them. It cost $15,000 to do all the work necessary and they paid 100% minus my $1k deductible. Apparently I have a coverage for just this type of situation up to $25k. None of my other neighbors did and while their policies covered pumping out the water and drying out the basement, it didn’t cover any of the repair costs, like drywall being replaced, flooring, painting, etc. My neighbor had just refinished her basement because of a mold issue from leaky outdoor faucet they had no idea about. They had put down vinyl plank flooring, but that had to be ripped up so the concrete underneath could dry out. Ours is carpeted, so much less expensive to begin with and we replaced with carpet since whatever flooring you have has to be ripped out anyway.

My premium still hasn’t increased. Still paying $144/month. Meanwhile, my mom in Florida just had her premium increase by $500/month and she is 5 miles inland, not in a flood zone and on the 5th floor of her building.

It was a freak thing as we never get water in our basements. I have no idea if my insurance company tried to get money back from the town, since they were responsible for the backup. I don’t think any of my neighbors tried to get reimbursement from the town, either.

One of my neighbors lost thousands of dollars of musical instruments and other band equipment.