Will insurance cover a fire if it occurred on the same day a policy was reinstated?

Comments

5 responses to “Will insurance cover a fire if it occurred on the same day a policy was reinstated?”

1. 

   October 5, 2016

   Scott W Johnson

   This is a fair question.

   First off, the insurance policy will not only state a Day but an exact TIME. Typically the exact time is 12:01AM.

   However, as numerous others have pointed out: This is literally the definition of suspicious.

   Insurance companies will not pay for claims things that happened when they were not the carrier or record of if no insurance was in force.

   You should expect that the underwriter will comb through every available piece of evidence that they can.
2. 

   May 29, 2015

   Thad Bynum

   The insurance company is obligated to pay all just claims anytime the policy is in-force. As mentioned in previous answers, the company will investigate your claim thoroughly to determine the cause of the fire. It would be mighty handy for it to be from lightning as anything else is going to appear very suspicious.
3. 

   May 8, 2015

   Greg Roover

   Yes, from what you provided it should in most cases be a covered loss. As long as the fire started AFTER the policy coverage began it would be covered. It does not matter if it started 1 minute after the policy went into effect, it should be covered as long as none of the policies exclusions would apply.
4. 

   April 13, 2015

   Jim Winkler

   That is a very good question! It will certainly be something that the insurance company will be very suspicious of, as it is always very coincidental when the policy and claim come in the same day. I’d expect that they will work very hard at showing reason to doubt the fire was a naturally occurring accident that you had no knowledge of beforehand – you weren’t aware of any thing that might have contributed to it, let’s say.
   The way I read your post, the policy was inforce for nearly an hour before the fire, so they would definitely seem to be be obligated to pay. However, I’d bet there is a clause or some language in the policy that protects the insurer from suspicious or intentional claims, and my best guess is this is where your battle will be fought. I am not a lawyer, and would not give you any legal advice, but if they drag their feet about paying the claim you may want to have one on hand, just in case. Good luck, and thanks for asking!
5. 

   April 10, 2015

   David G. Pipes, CLU®, RICP®

   The start date and time is the exact moment that coverage begins. If a loss occurs within minutes following the start date and time, the company would be obligated to cover the loss. As you can imagine the claims department will probably look quite closely at the circumstances to determine if fraud was involved in any manner. Fire is such a rare occurrence that a fire happening immediately following reinstatement would raise suspicion.