Property Damage Claims: Compensation for Property Loss 2024

What Is Property Damage?

Property damage refers to an injury to personal property or real estate that affects its value or impairs its use. Even a scratch can qualify as property damage that creates the legal right to pursue an insurance claim.

Classifying Property Damage Cases

You can classify property damage cases in many ways. The classification can affect the property owner’s legal rights. Specifically, classifying the property damage can tell you:

• The type of insurance policy that might cover the loss

• Whose insurer will handle the claim

• What you must prove to receive an insurance check

For example, the 4 major classifications of property damage correspond to the different types of insurance policies, including the following:

• Motor vehicle covered by auto insurance

• Home covered by homeowner’s or flood insurance

• Personal property

• Business property

Classifying property losses by the type of property tells you which policies might cover the damage or destruction.

You can also classify property damage by the cause of the loss. The cause will tell you the coverage in the policy that gives you the right to seek compensation. Thus, wind damage or theft involving your vehicle falls under comprehensive coverage, while a crash falls under collision coverage.

Finally, you can classify these cases according to the cause of the damage. Property damage liability coverage is paid when a person named in the policy causes damage to property of others. For example, a homeowner’s policy pays someone who slips and falls on the property due to the owner’s negligence.

No-fault coverage pays for any cause, including situations where the fault falls on you, another person, or no one. Thus, your auto collision coverage pays when your car is totaled in an accident caused by you, another driver, or a flood that pushes your car into a lamppost.

How Do I Get Compensation for Damage to Property?

You must decide whether the property damage is worth pursuing a claim. If you need to file a damage claim under your property insurance, you probably have a deductible that you must pay. The deductible represents your share of the losses. For example, if you total your vehicle and have a policy with a $1,000 deductible, the insurer will pay the actual cash value minus the deductible.

If your property losses are less than the deductible, you will not receive anything from the insurer. You may still be required to report the damage to the insurer, but you will probably not recover anything if you file a claim for a minor accident. Liability claims against another’s insurance policy do not include deductibles. Instead, the insurer should compensate you for the full amount of your losses.

When you choose to proceed with a claim, you will fill out the insurer’s claim form and provide proof of your losses, such as photos of the damage and repair estimates. The company assigns your claim to an adjuster to investigate your loss and its causes. The adjuster determines whether the policy obligates the insurer to pay the claim.

The adjuster can deny your claim. The grounds for denial can include:

• The property was not covered by the policy

• The cause did not fall within the coverage

• The damage existed before the claimed incident

You can end up in property damage litigation against the insurer if it persists in an unfounded claim denial. You may also need to file a lawsuit against an at-fault party if they had no insurance to cover the damage they caused. For example, suppose that you get hit by an uninsured motorist. Without auto insurance, your only option for recovering compensation for the accidental property damage will be to sue the driver.

What Are the Consequences of Property Damage and Destruction of Property?

Property damage law includes both civil and criminal consequences when someone damages property. Under civil law, the at-fault party will be liable for the damage they caused. Their liability would include the cost to repair or replace the property.

Additionally, the victim can recover the economic impact of the loss of the property’s use. Thus, if someone crashes into your car and you require a rental, the other party and their insurer may be responsible for paying your rental fee.

States also have criminal laws that prohibit people from intentionally damaging another’s property. Some property damage examples that violate criminal laws include the following:

• Over $1,000 in property damage is felony criminal injury to property in Idaho

• Endangering others by damaging property is criminal property damage in Hawaii

• Burning a dwelling is arson in Vermont

All of these offenses require proof of intent, which explains why car accidents do not qualify as criminal offenses in most cases. However, an intentional road rage crash could lead to an arrest.

Contact ConsumerShield to Learn More About Property Damage Law

You should not have to bear the burden of your property losses when they are covered by an insurance policy. We can help you understand insurance law and your right to seek compensation. Contact ConsumerShield for a free case evaluation and a referral to an attorney to represent you.