Insurance Appraisals

Sometimes a reasonable agreement with an insurance company just cannot be reached. When that happens you may need to consider invoking "The Appraisal Clause" in your insurance policy.

In every homeowner's insurance policy there is a clause known as "The Appraisal Clause."
It will say something like this:

“If you and we fail to agree on the amount of loss, either may demand an appraisal of the loss. In this event, each party will choose a competent appraiser within 20 days after receiving a written request from the other. The two appraisers will choose an Appraisal Umpire. If they cannot agree upon an Appraisal Umpire within 15 days, you or we may request that the choice be made by a judge of a court of record in the state where the “residence premises” is located. The appraisers will separately set the amount of loss. If the appraisers submit an agreement to us, the amount agreed upon will be the amount of loss. If they fail to agree, they will submit their differences to the Appraisal Umpire. A decision agreed to by any two will set the amount of loss.
Each party will:
a. pay its own appraiser, and
b. Bear the other expenses of the appraisal and umpire equally.”

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Did You Know:

There are times when you should not file a claim, or delay filing your claim.  Do you know when those times are?
(page 37)

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