Noble Public Adjusting Group is on a mission to educate homeowners about their insurance policies, because in our years of experience we have found that the average homeowner feels, since they have insurance on their home, anything that happens will be covered, repairs made properly, or replacement of their home and/or its contents taken care of fairly by their insurance company if catastrophe strikes or major damage occurs.

The truth is often a far different thing. Homeowners need to always keep in mind that your insurance company is in the business of making money, not shelling it out. That is how they stay profitable, by denying claims or paying out as little as possible when a homeowner makes a claim against their insurance policy. This is just the way it is. But there are things you can learn that will help you as a homeowner avoid the pitfalls of substandard homeowner insurance policies and the murky language of insurance.

You Do Not Want a Right to Repair Clause in Your Homeowner Insurance Policy

To help keep you as a homeowner educated and informed, today on the Noble blog we are addressing what is called a ‘right to repair’ clause that homeowner insurance policies sometimes contain. When an insurance company invokes the right to repair, the insurance company repairs the damages caused to your property by using their own contractor or repairmen. In contrast, on a typical insurance claim where the right to repair is not invoked, the insurance company will just pay the policyholder directly for the dollar value of damage caused to the property. In typical insurance company fashion, by using their own contractors and repairmen, the insurance company can put more money in their own pockets rather than paying it to their policyholder. However, many times the right to repair process can result in:

• substandard repairs
• partial repairs such as resurfacing of materials rather than replacing with new materials
• a total lack of control over the repairs being performed by the insurance company
• unlawful repairs and repairs performed without permits
• lost time while the policyholder has to stay at home to monitor the insurance company’s repairs

An example of the nightmare that can happen when an insurance company invokes their right to repair is in this news article from the TV station ABC, Channel 3. Here is the first section of that news article:

PENSACOLA, Fla.–A Pensacola man’s home damaged by February’s tornado remains unrepaired. He tells Channel 3’s Jackalyn Kovac his insurance policy is preventing him from getting it fixed. “It is almost seven months later, I’m still waiting on getting the house repaired because the insurance company is saying I must use their personnel to repair,” Ken Adams said. The practice is called the right to repair or managed repair program. Adam’s insurance, Tower Hill Insurance, told Jackalyn the policy has been in place for decades.

Mr. Adams had to end up hiring an attorney. Here is more from the article, “According to insurers it saves policyholders money and gives them longer warranties on the work. Adam’s attorney, Jill Henniger-Bowman disagrees and told Channel 3 News it costs homeowners more. Because the insurance company is trying to keep what they’re paying the contractor down, they’ll come in with the substandard product, they won’t make the repairs in the correct way,” Henniger Bowman said. “We’ve had several instances when we’ve had to come in after the repairs were made and go back and sue the insurance company to pay to have a contractor come and fix it; because its done wrong.”

Noble Keeps a List of Insurance Companies Who Use Right to Repair

Without the right to repair clause in a homeowner insurance policy, the homeowners make a claim, the insurance company sends out their adjuster to inspect the damage and come up with an estimate. If the homeowner is satisfied with the estimate, the insurance company would then cut a check, minus the deductible, to the homeowner who then pays a contractor of their choosing to do the work.

That is how a normal homeowner insurance policy should work. Our best advice for all homeowners is to call Noble Public Adjusting Group and find out if your insurance company is one that uses the right to repair clause. Noble keeps an updated list of all insurance companies in the nation that use this clause. We can even go over your insurance policy with you to make sure this clause is not included. If it is discovered that your homeowner insurance policy contains the right to repair clause, it is time to update or change that policy to rid it of this nightmarish clause. It is your responsibility as a homeowner to protect what is yours. We make it our responsibility to help make that happen.

Call us today. Noble Public Adjusting Group, (850) 249-MY-PA