Most homeowners file an insurance claim once or twice in their lives. Insurance companies process thousands of them every week. That experience gap costs policyholders money.
After years of working claims across eight states, we’ve seen the same mistakes repeat. Each one chips away at your settlement. Stack a few together and you could lose tens of thousands of dollars.
Here are the eight mistakes we see most often, and how to avoid every one of them.
1. Accepting the First Offer Without Questioning It
The insurance company’s first offer is a starting point. Treat it like one.
Insurance adjusters use estimating software that pulls pricing data, applies depreciation, and generates a number. That number is designed to be defensible, not generous. It often falls well below what your contractor will charge to do the work.
You have every right to review the estimate line by line, ask questions, and challenge anything that doesn’t add up. Most policyholders don’t. They assume the insurance company did the math correctly and cash the check.
What to do instead: Compare the insurance estimate to at least one contractor estimate before accepting anything. If the gap is significant, hire a public adjuster to review the claim. Learn more about why first offers are almost always too low.
2. Failing to Document the Damage Thoroughly
Your phone has a camera. Use it. Then use it some more.
The single biggest factor in a successful insurance claim is documentation. Photos, videos, written descriptions, and measurements create the evidence that supports your settlement. Without them, it’s your word against the adjuster’s estimate.
What to do instead: Photograph and video every room, every angle, every damaged item. Don’t move or clean anything until you’ve documented it. Include wide shots for context and close-ups for detail. Timestamp everything.
3. Throwing Away Damaged Items Too Soon
We’ve watched policyholders haul water-damaged furniture, ruined appliances, and destroyed personal belongings to the curb before anyone inspected them. The insurance company then has no way to verify the loss, and neither do you.
Damaged items are evidence. Throwing them away weakens your claim.
What to do instead: Keep every damaged item until the insurance adjuster has inspected it and you’ve documented it yourself. If you must remove something for safety or health reasons (like mold-contaminated materials), photograph it thoroughly first and keep a sample if possible.
4. Giving a Recorded Statement Without Preparation
Shortly after you file a claim, your insurance company may ask for a recorded statement. This is standard practice, and your policy may require you to cooperate. But “cooperate” doesn’t mean “wing it.”
Recorded statements become part of your claim file. Imprecise answers, guesses about timelines, or offhand comments can be used to reduce or deny your claim later. Insurance adjusters are trained to ask specific questions. You should be prepared to answer them.
What to do instead: Before giving a recorded statement, review your policy, your documentation, and the timeline of events. Stick to facts you’re certain about. If you don’t know something, say so. You’re allowed to say “I don’t recall” or “I’d need to check my records.” Consider having a public adjuster present during the statement.
5. Missing Deadlines
Your insurance policy contains deadlines for reporting losses, submitting proof of loss, and filing suit if a dispute arises. These deadlines are binding. Miss one and your claim could be denied entirely, regardless of how legitimate the damage is.
Many policyholders don’t read their policy until after a loss. By then, the clock is already running.
What to do instead: Report your loss to the insurance company as soon as possible. Read the “Duties After Loss” section of your policy and note every deadline. If you’re unsure about a timeline, ask your insurance company in writing and save their response. A public adjuster tracks these deadlines as part of the claims process.
6. Not Reading Your Policy
Your insurance policy is a contract. It spells out what’s covered, what’s excluded, how much you’ll be paid, and what you’re required to do after a loss. Most policyholders have never read it.
That’s a problem. You can’t advocate for yourself if you don’t know what you’re entitled to.
Policies contain valuable coverages that policyholders routinely miss. Additional living expenses, code upgrade coverage, debris removal, and ordinance or law coverage can add thousands to your claim. If you don’t know they exist, you won’t claim them. And the insurance company won’t volunteer the information.
What to do instead: Read your policy before you need it. At minimum, review the declarations page (which lists your coverage amounts), the “Perils Insured Against” section, and the exclusions. If the language is confusing (and it often is), a public adjuster can translate it for you.
7. Making Permanent Repairs Before the Insurance Inspection
After a loss, your first instinct is to fix things. We understand that. But making permanent repairs before the insurance adjuster inspects the property destroys the evidence they need to evaluate your claim.
Your policy requires you to protect the property from further damage. That means temporary measures like tarping a roof, boarding up windows, or extracting standing water. It does not mean hiring a contractor to rebuild your kitchen before anyone documents what happened to it.
What to do instead: Make emergency repairs to prevent additional damage, and document those repairs with photos, receipts, and descriptions. Do not begin permanent reconstruction until the insurance company has inspected the property and you’ve agreed on the scope of the loss. Keep every receipt for temporary repairs, as those costs are typically covered.
8. Not Hiring a Public Adjuster
This one is personal, but it’s also factual.
The insurance company has a team of professionals handling your claim: staff adjusters, independent adjusters, engineers, and attorneys. Every one of them works for the insurance company. Without a public adjuster, you’re negotiating alone against a team that does this for a living.
A public adjuster evens the field. We document the damage, read the policy, prepare the estimate, and handle every conversation with the insurance company. We work on contingency, meaning we only get paid when you get paid.
Studies consistently show that claims handled by public adjusters result in higher settlements. The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) found that public adjuster-assisted claims in Florida received settlements 747%* higher than claims policyholders handled alone. But the pattern is clear.
*Results vary. Settlements depend on policy limits, damage scope, and carrier.
What to do instead: Contact a public adjuster to review any settlement, especially on claims over $10,000. The consultation is free at Hughes & Associates, and there’s no obligation. Note that while public adjusters work on contingency, third-party expert fees (engineers, forensic specialists, etc.) may be separate and the client’s responsibility.
The Common Thread
Every mistake on this list comes from the same root cause: the insurance company knows the process better than you do. That’s not a criticism of homeowners. It’s the reality of a system where one side handles claims every day and the other side handles them once a decade.
The fix is simple. Get someone on your side who knows the process as well as the insurance company does.
If you’re dealing with a property damage claim and want to make sure you’re not leaving money behind, contact Hughes & Associates. We’ll review your claim for free and tell you exactly where things stand.