i had a house fire the kitchen was destroyed.my oven was destroyed,1957 oven the insurer only gave 800.00,why

Question

i want to know how to get the most out of my fire claim to replace the things in my kitchen. i had notty pine cabinets,oven and countertop are the originals. i have nottypinedoor framesetc. i need to know how to make sure it is replaced to te best of my ability.THANKS EVERYONE WHO REPLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Ask your insurance company why, we can only guess. I would guess your policy covers only depreciated price. You should insure for replacement cost.

Answer 2

Well, the most LIKELY reason why you were only paid $800 total for a kitchen fire, is that you were UNDERINSURED! Homeowners policies have a "coinsurance" clause on them. That means, if you insure your entire house for LESS than 100% the cost to rebuild the ENTIRE HOUSE, including the knotty pine wood, etc, then they only have to PAY you the portion that you insured.

The SECOND most likely reason is, they paid you actual cash value due to underinsurance, until you actually REPLACE the items, and THEN they will pay the difference between acv and replacement cost.

A THIRD possible (but less likely) reason, is that your house policy is NOT on a replacement value, but a "functional replacement" valuation - which will pay to fix, but NOT like kind and quality. This is most common on homes that are VERY old, with lots of hard to replace detailing or expensive (think, hand painted gold motifs on the dining room ceiling) extras.

By the way - a 1957 oven is worth just about nothing. An all original, 1957 kitchen is DESPERATELY in need of being completely redone - it's NOT an "increase in worth" for having obsolete appliances. Except for wood trim, it actually brings DOWN the entire market value of the house - it doesn't increase it.

In any case, they should have given you a written explanation of EXACTLY how they came to the $800 figure - your adjuster should have VERBALLY gone over it with you before mailing you the check/paperwork, so this should NOT be a surprise now.

If they did not explain on paper, or if you can't figure out what they wrote, call your agent to have them interpret it for you.

Answer 3

There are basically two types of standard insurance. One will pay fair value replacement and the other pays replacement value.

Fair value replacement will give you the cost you paid less depreciation over the years. A 1957 oven would have no fair value replacement, since a fifty year old oven would be worth little to nothing as an oven. If you had it declared an antique or other valuable property in your house, it would be different.

Replacement value insurance costs more, but you get the amount of money it costs to replace an item at today's prices.

Answer 4

If able to provide the Insurance adjuster with photos of everything that was in the kitchen (cupboards, flooring, appliances, pots, pans etc, etc) likely you have a broad view of the room in a photo at least.

Insurance adjusters, depending on the Insurer, are independents...there to get the basics and nothing more. Some adjusters are very good and very thorough, others are not and won't even show up to inspect.

When we had our basement flood in another city we were in at the time, we had among other things, an oak wall unit...big heavy thing in the family room that got damaged. We had paid roughly $1500 when we purchased it about 10 years earlier. The adjuster gave us a replacement value of $2500...they are suppose to adjust everything based on replacement costs for today, not replacement costs as of when you purchased them.

The fellow you got may not have had any idea of the value of this oven and it might be necessary to get such an oven appraised by an antique dealership (again a photo will help). As for the knotty pine materials...you should be able to have these things replaced as they were at today's prices...the idea is to get your kitchen back as closely to the way it was...not necessarily better. The insurance is likely covering the cost of construction and rebuild as well so they of course will try to low ball certain things.

As I said, gather pictures and present them and request that the kitchen be brought back to what it was using the materials as they were in it originally. The oven, get an antique appraiser to write up the value on that and submit it as well...it may or may not change the valued price and if you already got paid for it, that indicates acceptance and they may not budge on that issue.

Good luck..sorry for the troubles

Answer 5

Check your insurance policy and read it over. You may have made the choice initially, in case of fire damage, your kitchen will be repaired to a working kitchen.
If you did not specifically itemize the items that were special and had to be replaced with same(the insurance cost goes up - of course).
You get what you pay for.

Answer 6

I would get a contractor to come in and give me estimates, itemized, three would be better but two will probably do unless they are far off from eash other. Of course you won't be getting the old things as thjey were but they can tell you within reason what the replacement would be for the equivilent of what was lost and the labor to replace them. The ins. Co. should send out an insurance adjuster who will give their estimate and you should get a good average of the three for it to be fair. Good luck. Make sure to get itemized and complete estimates and before hiring someone get a certificate of insurance and a licence and I like referrals too. Good luck.

Answer 7

You make sure that you let the insurance company know that you want the originals back and not some fake cabinets. Check behind them because they will get you if they can. Do not let them tell you that your insurance will not cover the cost of the originals yes it will and you can pick out what you want back in your kitchen. Good luck.

Answer 8

Its called insurance depreciation let me explain the best i can. it's A noncash expense that reduces the value of an asset as a result of wear and tear, age, or obsolescence. Most assets lose their value over time (in other words, they depreciate), and must be replaced once the end of their useful life is reached. There are several accounting methods that are used in order to write off an asset's depreciation cost over the period of its useful life. Because it is a non-cash expense, depreciation lowers the company's reported earnings while increasing free cash flow.

Answer 9

its called depreation. why would they give you a new oven when you had an oven that has been used for years. the same with the other items mentioned, youll get the same type of material that you had before the fire. if you want to upgrade, you pay the difference.

Answer 10

Absolutely! But why are you heating it in an oven? Heck, when I was in college my Tex-Mex roommate used to bring back the ABSOLUTE BEST flour tortillas that her Mom made,and being the monitarily destitute folks that we were we would heat them up with an iron (no kidding!). Wish I woulda gotten the recipe for those.

Answer 11

check you palace, insurer's co .must replace for all loses plus hotels food transportation and all must be replace to the original.if SAM rising they refuse then you get lawyer sou them in district court