Anyone have homeowners claim experience?

June4bride2be · July 2011

If you didn't see my FB post......Our uphill neighbors pool broke yesterday, sending 80,000 or so gallons of water into our yard....tidal wave style (2 hours after our last party guest left!).

Our basement got a little water down the walls by the windows, no biggie. But our yard is now full of stone, concrete chunks, and mulch. It washed about 10 bags of our mulch away too.

Neighbor said he will contact his insurance, but I don't know how that works. Do we tell him about how much mulch we lost and let him get someone to clean up the debris? Should we just go ahead and clean it? Should I take pics?

I am so thankful our party was over, it could have been really serious. That water went over the chain link fence and had enough force to knock anything/anyone out of it's path. Their little boys were in the pool too, they are fine....just traumatized. =(

Irisheyes1247 · July 2011

Oh my gosh! So glad it was after everyone left. Sorry about the mess. We have no experience but just wanted to say glad that no one was back there!

MelissaSue81 · July 2011

Hmm.. if you're going to clean it yourself.. the only real "damage" is the mulch, right? I really don't think your neighbors insurance would cover damage on your property, so I would think it would have to go on your insurance.. and I'm not sure if it would be worth the claim on your homeowners, depending on the deductible and if they'd raise your rates, etc. I could be totally wrong though.. the other homeowners insurance MIGHT be responsible.. So I would take some pics just in case before you clean it up.. If you are comfortable with your agent, you might just call and ask if its worth filing a claim or what to do.. I know I did that a few years ago and they told me no.. either it wasn't worth it, or it wouldn't be covered or something.

ArcticFox · July 2011

The only thing we've done a claim for is siding, because we had several hail storms (very bad, huge golf-ball size pieces).

I actually documented the storm with video, but they weren't interested. They just sent out an adjust to look at the dents, and then they also told us we needed a new roof even though we got a new one 3 years ago.

I would definitely take pics, and perhaps you can pull up cc records of purchasing mulch (like a trip to Home Depot or whatever).

It can't hurt to call and see, but definitely snap a few pics before cleaning up (IMO)

ArcticFox · July 2011

Another thing - DH didn't want to put in the claim because he didn't want to raise our insurance, but I think that's after like several claims- and hail is totally out of our control. This was something that someone else did - it wasn't like homeowner negligence or anything.

But - I can totally see how a neighbor causing damage could be a legit claim - but perhaps they are the ones to call their insurance. Not sure - I imagine your insurance co could tell you.

I mean what if a neighbor's tree fell on your house, or a neighbor's tree fell on your fence, or they had machinery that ruined something on your property (like somehow cut a cable or something) - so yes I can see how a claim can be made, just not sure who's insurance pays for it. I would kind of think they need to pay you - like they would put in the claim to their insurance for the pool and all damages.

jnk062602 · July 2011

I would think it is like car insurance - this was their (property's) fault so their insurance should cover you. I would probably just talk to them and see what they are planning on doing. They may just want to pay out of pocket for your mulch, but maybe they can lump it all together with their own claim.

Bianca42 · July 2011

ArcticFox:
It can't hurt to call and see, but definitely snap a few pics before cleaning up (IMO)

Actually, I called my homeowners insurance to ask about a possible claim. (Long power outage, lost food in fridge, computer fried when the power came back on and it wasn't 100%.) They wouldn't cover the computer, so we decided to not file a claim because our food was about the same as our deductible. Later that year we had wind-damage to our roof and we did put in a claim.

The following year I tried to get a quotes from other insurance companies to lower our rates and we couldn't get anybody who would quote us because we had TWO claims. My insurance broker was my friend's husband. He looked up info on the claims and my inquiry was listed as a claim. Our rates didn't raise with the insurance company we had...but it was out there and nobody else would touch us.

I would hold off until tomorrow to see if they are going to cover the damage through their insurance. (I would think that they would have to, since it was their pool that damaged your property.)

TinyPinkBug · July 2011

Jessica#### (Ben's Mommy) is an insurance agent. Page her and ask. I don't know which company she is with now.

Read2Me · July 2011

I called our insurance company after our neighbors' shutters blew off their house during a wind storm and hit our siding, shattering parts of it. Our agent told us it would have to go through the neighbors' insurance. The damage ended up being less than their deductible so they just paid our bill when we had it fixed. Since your neighbor's are most likely filing a claim on their pool, your damage will probably be included in theirs. My guess is they will have an agent out today surveying the damage so call and make sure they have the agent check out your yard as well.

June4bride2be · July 2011

Thanks! I took pics and we cleaned up. Basement is fine and so is foundation...the flood went mainly under and over our deck and through the yard. Mulch is our biggest loss. I will see what they want to do, mulch is so $$$ and a PITA to haul...maybe they can get it done for us!

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