In an ideal world, every insurance claim you submit for damages to your home is resolved instantly. Whether it’s a hurricane that ripped your roofing or hailstones that put cracks and holes in your siding, it would be nice if insurance carriers quickly responded to your claims and covered the costs of critical repairs.
But realistically, insurers could take weeks or even months to assess and respond to a homeowner’s claim. How long should you wait for an insurer to respond to your claim, and what can you do if they take too long?
Texas law on insurance claim process lengths
Per state law, an insurer must respond to a policyholder’s notice of claim no later than the 15th day it received the notice. Once it has received all the necessary documentation, statements and forms required for the claim, it has another 15 days to notify the policyholder that it has accepted or rejected the claim.
If an insurer can’t approve or deny a claim within those 15 days, it must inform the policyholder that it needs more time to deliberate. By Texas law, it has 45 days to come up with a final approval or denial from when it sent a notification that it needed more time.
Why do insurers take long to process a claim?
There could be several reasons why an insurer takes too long to process your claim. They include:
- Insufficient documentation and information: An insurer can claim that it can’t complete processing your claim because it lacks documentation related to the damage or information about the repairs done to your property. This may be a legitimate reason, but you should be wary of insurers asking for redundant documentation because they could be purposefully delaying your claim.
- Unclear policy terms: An insurer might also claim that it’s unable to process your claim because the damage to your property falls under the policy’s exclusions. This could be another legitimate argument but be careful if your insurer suddenly reveals exclusions that weren’t previously in your policy.
- Difficulties in determining the cause and value of the damage: A carrier might claim that it’s difficult to decide on the total cost of the damage and/or how the damage happened. They could delay the claim investigation or even disagree with the insurance adjuster you’ve hired to assess the damage.
Regardless of why your insurer is delaying your claim, if it can’t respond to your claim or give final approval within the given timeframes, it’s committing an unfair business practice by law. You might want to consider your legal options if your claim takes unreasonably long to process.
