Home lost in Palisades fire

[Allen Trent]

I did not assume the OP was trying to defraud his carrier. But if he were to willfully inflate the costs in an effort to "get what he paid for" or not "shortchange" himself, that could easily drift into fraud territory.

keep in mind, this is california. even full fledged theft, crimes, assaults are not discouraged

 

[rousemark]

To quote @adjusterjack's mantra, RTFP (Read The F'ing Policy). All the coverages, limits, exclusions and exceptions specific to you will be found there.
With that said, Additional Living Expense (aka Loss Of Use, or Coverage D) is typically not a flat payout. (If your water heater leaked and you stayed in a hotel for 2 days while they dried out the house, you wouldn't expect a check for $115k, right?) Rather, it is designed to cover temporary housing of "like kind and quality" (look for that or similar language in the policy) for up to $X or X amount of time. This means if a guy lives in a shack, he shouldn't expect a stay at the Ritz Carlton. Or a guy in a big McMansion doesn't have to be stuck in a Motel 6. The carrier will ask for receipts because this coverage it typically on a reimbursement basis.
I would advise to find something big enough for your family and close enough to work/school, but not so ultra-lux that you burn through the coverage before the house is rebuilt.

Everybody is telling the OP to read his policy. Anybody ever stop to think that if his house burned the policy was probably burned and therefore he can't read it.

 

[Allen Trent]

Anybody ever stop to think

Come on man. Are you new to the forums?

Most of us have ADHD (some ED and/or STD), we don't have time to read every word someone posts before we lecture them or criticize or correct then.

I recently discovered I have ADHD. It is the form where I can't pay attention. But when I do it is in High Definition. Attention Deficit High Definition

 

[somarco]

even full fledged theft, crimes, assaults are not discouraged

or punishable . . . especially if you are a "guest worker" who suddenly found themselves on the opposite side of the fence . . .

 

[LostDollar]

My home was lost in a fire. My loss of use is 115K. Why do they ask for receipts (hotel, rent)? Is that 115K not a fixed payout? Am I shortchanging myself if I rent a cheap place during reconstruction? I found a place that I can rent for 3.5K per month. If it takes 2 years to rebuild, that's only 84K + my 2K in hotel stays. Am I shortchanging myself of 31K?
One article claims that these types of fires get expidited. Homes are built in 4 to six months instead of up to 1 1/2 years before a shovel hits the ground. IF true, I might be shortchanging myself on quality of stay by a LOT.

To quote @adjusterjack's mantra, RTFP (Read The F'ing Policy). All the coverages, limits, exclusions and exceptions specific to you will be found there.
With that said, Additional Living Expense (aka Loss Of Use, or Coverage D) is typically not a flat payout. (If your water heater leaked and you stayed in a hotel for 2 days while they dried out the house, you wouldn't expect a check for $115k, right?) Rather, it is designed to cover temporary housing of "like kind and quality" (look for that or similar language in the policy) for up to $X or X amount of time. This means if a guy lives in a shack, he shouldn't expect a stay at the Ritz Carlton. Or a guy in a big McMansion doesn't have to be stuck in a Motel 6. The carrier will ask for receipts because this coverage it typically on a reimbursement basis.
I would advise to find something big enough for your family and close enough to work/school, but not so ultra-lux that you burn through the coverage before the house is rebuilt.

Wrong.

Which is why I made the post I did.

Your post, great post. Maybe the agents will take it coming from you rather than me.

Jack's comments and his process of looking up several standard homeowner policies when issues like this pop up was exactly what was in my mind when I went to my policy file.

(However, do keep in mind since things are burned, he may have to do a little bit of work to get his coverage document to review.)

 

[LostDollar]

I did not assume the OP was trying to defraud his carrier. But if he were to willfully inflate the costs in an effort to "get what he paid for" or not "shortchange" himself, that could easily drift into fraud territory.

Again great post. And again I hope the agents will take it from you when they did not take it from me in the post I made above.

 

[LostDollar]

Everybody is telling the OP to read his policy. Anybody ever stop to think that if his house burned the policy was probably burned and therefore he can't read it.

Yes.

And I covered that point in comments I made above.

 

[LostDollar]

but you are making some assumptions. what if he has a 3,000 square foot house 3 miles from work & less than a mile from kids school in a great neighborhood. But he has found temporary housing of 1500 sq foot house 20 miles from work, 5 miles from school & a slightly worse neighborhood. He appeared to be asking, in my opinion, should he sacrifice comfort/lifestyle/time to save the insurance company money or should he find exact replacement cost housing that he is owed via the policy.

I am the last to be able to lecture, I have middle school humor or worse & make lots of questionable (albeit pretty damn funny if you ask me) comments. I just thought this one was a bit soon. Imagine a poster coming on & saying they have to put their spouse in a nursing home tomorrow & have 2 choices. 1 that is $5k per month & 1 that is $10k per month & the insurance company will pay either under the limit, but wont pay for longer than 1 year. Would you still say "quit trying to scam the insurance company, it is people like you that cost me more for my insurance premiums half way around the world" ---maybe not the same, but that is how it came across to me.

You have not lectured me on site, except possibly two times in relation to comments I have made about post 2019 Inherited Iras and withdrawals from them.

 

[LostDollar]

but you are making some assumptions. what if he has a 3,000 square foot house 3 miles from work & less than a mile from kids school in a great neighborhood. But he has found temporary housing of 1500 sq foot house 20 miles from work, 5 miles from school & a slightly worse neighborhood. He appeared to be asking, in my opinion, should he sacrifice comfort/lifestyle/time to save the insurance company money or should he find exact replacement cost housing that he is owed via the policy.

I am the last to be able to lecture, I have middle school humor or worse & make lots of questionable (albeit pretty damn funny if you ask me) comments. I just thought this one was a bit soon. Imagine a poster coming on & saying they have to put their spouse in a nursing home tomorrow & have 2 choices. 1 that is $5k per month & 1 that is $10k per month & the insurance company will pay either under the limit, but wont pay for longer than 1 year. Would you still say "quit trying to scam the insurance company, it is people like you that cost me more for my insurance premiums half way around the world" ---maybe not the same, but that is how it came across to me.

This image came to mind

I am not quite as enamored of some of your humor as you are. However, following some posting/life advice I have been given, I work to ignore some of those posts and appreciate what I believe to be the heart of the person making them.

 

[LostDollar]

This image came to mind

I place that image against a current series of posts in the senior forum as well as two pieces of tagline information from two posters in the senior forum, and I am at a total loss about how to process the image and its message.