App Helps Get More Money Back After Losing Items in Fire

With winter fast approaching, home fires tend to spike around this time of year. Getting everything back that you lost in that fire through your insurance company can be a battle. However, an app is helping homeowners get thousands more back in claims, while making the process easier.

The unthinkable happens and a matter of minutes is all it takes for the flames to destroy everything you’ve ever owned.

“90 percent of people are very concerned about the loss of their belongings,” said Phil Newton, an Allstate Insurance Agent.

We wanted to know if they were concerned enough to create an inventory of their personal items.

“Unfortunately 90 percent of people don’t take the time to catalog their belongings or assess a value to it,” said Newton.

According to AllState insurance, the Northeast is the worst in the country when it comes to doing this, in fact, 51 percent of people have not cataloged their items.

It’s as simple as taking a picture or video of the items in your home. Allstate offers a smart phone app called Digital Locker to make this an easy process.

You can add any room you want like we did for one homeowner’s in-home bar. Once you’re in, start snapping away. It’s important to include unique items like taps and even those half used bottles of liquor. Do this for every room and closet. Otherwise, it would be pretty difficult to remember how many books, games and toys your kids had.

Don’t forget the linens and the pots and pans.

“It’s going to be the insurance company that’s going to be looking at the average, as far as what an average homeowner would own,” said Newton.

That means you’re getting a lot less back in value for your items. Creating this inventory and documenting how old your items are and how much you paid for it, could get you 25 percent more on your insurance claim. Thousands of dollars makes a few hours of in-home photography worth it.

The Digital Locker app is available to anyone with a smart phone. You don’t have to be an Allstate Insurance customer to use it. All the information will be stored to the app’s cloud, so you don’t have to worry about losing it if your phone perishes with everything else in the fire.
 

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