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Yes. As long as you are within your states statute of limitations for filing claims and your claim for additional damages can be substantiated, the insurance company must consider your supplemental claim.
One of the best arguments we have used is to ask the claims adjuster from the
insurance company to get a guarantee from his expert that the repairs will work and that the insurance company will provide a warranty. Another option is to ask the insurance company to pay you for the items and take the items as salvage. If they balk at this, they are telling you they basically have no salvage value!
The use of experts to determine the cause of lightning damage should be considered. Also, obtaining weather reports which document lightning activity in your area can be helpful and convincing. In fact this has come into vogue lately not only for lighting loss claims but in fire investigations where the cause cannot be determine based on the debris. Weather reports and records, as well as opinions from experts regarding lighting’s role in a fire are all standard investigation tools in modern day fire investigations. The public adjusters at Tutwiler & Associates can be of particular assistance here.
In many cases we can present the expert fee in the claim for reimbursement by your insurance company. Either way, the benefits of an experts report far outweigh the cost of the report.
Yes this is a very real possibility and often happens as a jolt of power will often weaken or otherwise reduce the life of an electrical item. We see this same effect from electrical items exposed to smoke from a fire. It is not uncommon to see these items function for a few months then fail. You need to take into consideration the possibility of a reduced life expectancy for any electrical item that has been exposed to a fire, smoke, water, and power surges whether from lighting or other causes. Consider calling the expert public adjusters at Tutwiler& Associates and let them give you direction and advice on adjusting your losses from lighting and other covered electrical losses.
Each policyholder must answer this question independently. Retaining a qualified public adjuster at Tutwiler & Associates early can help avoid the many pitfalls and miscommunications, which could lead to a less positive result down the road.
Lighting losses are one of the most problematic insurance perils you can encounter. Just as you explained, things can be out all over the place. In addition, other items not currently showing damage may very well fail later due to heat, cracking of circuit boards, and overloading of electrical parts due to the high current charge to electronic parts that were not designed for this type of load.
Yes you should file a claim and advocate for a fair settlement. Get your own electrical engineer or depending on the items, an electronics specialist to inspect each and every building and item. Remember, any item currently under warranty will be void due to this event.
If the insurance company agrees an item is damaged by lighting, I suggest you do not accept a repair as likely the repair company will not guarantee the work. In addition we have seen a very high rate of failure in items at a later date due to the stress on the items hit. If something fails six months later the insurance carrier will claim its wear and tear, defective product etc. Have the insurance company pay you for the item, (you may get “actual cash value” or “replacement cost” depending on your policy language) and let them take the salvage value.