Insurance is something most people have for protection, but many people rarely need to use it. Because of this, a lot of people are uncertain what to do if they need to file a claim. If you are in this position and need to file a claim on your policy, here are several important things you should know as you prepare to do this.

Determine if you should file a claim

Before you rush to your insurance company's office or call them on the phone, you should analyze the situation to see if you should even file a claim. If you have home insurance and experienced storm damage, for example, you may want to consider two things before you file a claim:

1. Is the damage something the policy covers? Most policies have exclusions about the coverage they offer, and you should read through yours to see if you even have coverage for the incident that just occurred.
2. Is the damage enough to make filing a claim worthwhile? Secondly, you should analyze how much damage you have to see if it is even worth filing a claim.

Anytime you file a claim, you will have to pay the deductible amount on your policy before your insurance company will pay the rest. If you only have $800 of damage and your deductible is $1,000, filing a claim would not make a lot of sense.

Contact your insurance company

If you determine that the damage is something your insurance company would cover and the amount of damage is significantly more than your deductible, you should contact your insurance company to file a claim. You can often do this by calling, stopping in the office, or filling out forms online.

When you file a claim, the insurance company will want to know the date and time of the incident along with the facts and evidence you have related to the event. They may ask you a lot of questions relating to the event, and they may then send someone to your home to see the damage that was done.

You may want to hire a contractor to come to your home to get a second opinion on the damage. This is a great way to make sure your insurance company settles the claim for an amount that is high enough to cover all the damage from the incident.

Having insurance is the only protection you have over the things you own. If you currently need any type of insurance policy, contact an agency like Scovotti Insurance today to learn more.