Allow me to provide another great example of the hypocricy of insurance companies. For how many years now have we been hearing complaints of insureds running out and filing sinkhole claims when they see one little crack? That has been the main gripe of these carriers, especially in Tallahassee. Too many people were just jumping to file a claim too quick. Now, of course, people are filing claims too late. Thats right dont jump to file a claim too early and dont sit around and wait too long. So what is just right? Truth is,you will never find it just right becuase you filed a claim and either way your carrier is not going to be happy about it.

The newest trend from carriers is to deny claims for late reporting or pre-existing damage. Most policies have a requirement that you provide “prompt” notice when a loss occurs. Right off the bat we have issues with this. First, how is a homeowner supposed to know when a sinkhole loss occurs? Sinkholes can take thousands of years to develop and can cause gradual and progressive damage to a home. Second, what is prompt exactly? Is that a week, a month, a year, within minutes. I would submit prompt is whatever the insurance company wants to be depending on how it helps them deny your claim. So as much as I would like to tell everyone to not run out and file claims because of one crack, you are now being forced to. Sometimes I just don’t think these insurance companies think some of their decisions through.