What to know about insurance if you received storm damage

SPOKANE, Wash. — Images of storm and hail damage in the Inland Northwest have flooded social media, and Liberty Lake insurance agents say they are booked with people wanting to file a claim.

If you did sustain hail or other storm damage last night, Spokane State Farm agents say you want to document everything first.

“Call your insurance, you want to document any kind of damage that happened to your vehicle. If there’s broken glass you can certainly bring it by local stores,” said Alisher Meredith, an Insurance Agent with Chris Cutler’s State Farm insurance.

Meredith explained insurance will then review that claim and assess damages. Your insurance will guide you through it, to make an informed decision about estimates, repair shops, or even renting a car in the meantime.

“I would call the glass company right away just so they can get your car in to fix the broken damages and get you in there because one way or another you need to get it fixed. your insurance carrier covers it or you cover it you need it fixed,” Meredith said. 

But depending on the damage sustained, he said it may not be worth it to file a claim.

“Deductibles range from zero dollars to two thousand dollars, a lot of times people will find damage from the hail doesn’t even amount to more than their deductible so you wouldn’t even be filing a claim.”

It’s still important to take photos of everything, but Meredith said if you’ve filed many claims already, filing more can impact your insurance.

“Take a photo of the damage bring it to something like grizzly glass to see how much it’s gonna be, and call your insurance agent to figure out how much your deductible is. If your deductible is more than what it costs to fix obviously it’s not, if what it costs to fix is one or two hundred dollars more than your deductible again you might not wanna make a claim just because it does impact your account,” Meredith said. 

If you can’t get ahold of your insurance agent directly, you can call a 1-800 number for your insurance carrier and a phone agent can get you started on a claim.

COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.