TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Contractors are backed up, after recent storms wreaked havoc in southern Arizona. Now, thousands are left waiting for their insurance claims to be resolved.
Amber Perry with Farmers Insurance, located at 6041 E Grant Road, says many people want to know what they are covered for.
She says commonly asked questions are:
Am I covered if I start to work on the repairs myself? Am I covered if I hire a company that is not one of your preferred vendors?
She says the answer to both is yes.
“In this type of situation, we’re not going to make you wait to talk to an adjuster. We’re not going to make you wait to use one of our preferred vendors. Just go ahead and get whoever you can,” Perry told KGUN9.
She says the damage this monsoon has brought, has been much worse than previous years.
“We’ve had roofs ripped off. We’ve had carports ripped off. We’ve had electrical boxes ripped off. So they have no power whatsoever,” she added.
Given there are hundreds of claims, she says the likelihood of getting a contractor out in a timely manner is slim to none. So, she says if you can patch up the damage, or get your contractor out, do it.
“We’re just hoping that we can get any companies out, because most of them, like I said are three, four weeks out. I had somebody that had their home flooded the other day. A guest home...and they were telling us two, three weeks. And I said, that’s just unacceptable. You can’t live in that and it’s going to create a huge amount of damage,” she added.
Jeff McClinton, the President of ServiceMaster by Disaster Experts, says they are also swamped with claims.
“There have been thousands of claims filed due to weather related damage in the monsoon storms that have hit southern Arizona. Regarding ServiceMaster’s workload, yes, the claims keep coming in and we’re getting to people as fast as possible,” added McClinton.
Due to the severity of the damage, many of these claims are being considered catastrophe claims.
“Which means they assign a certain cat-code so they can bring in additional adjusters from other areas to help out,” said Perry.
If an adjuster can’t get out there right away, and you chose to start working on patching up damage yourself, here’s what Perry says you need to do:
“First take pictures. Pictures are going to be what helps us figure out what damage was existing. What you’ve done to take care of it. Whatever you do with that damage, keep your receipts. Take your pictures. Document is what all the adjusters are telling me and then they’ll work on reimbursing you for that,” she told KGUN9.
RELATED: Monsoon rips apart carport, rattling family inside home
