I got get quite a bit of water through one of the windows on the East side of my house during Harvey resulting in about 30-40sqft of the original hardwood floors damaged (house built in 1947), the windowsill, and baseboards, and some drywall. I have been traveling quite a bit and haven't had a contractor give me a quote on repair yet, and I'm not sure if they'll be able to replace just the damaged portion of the floor or if the entire room will need to be replaced.

My question is - If I call my insurance company and ask them to send an adjuster, will that automatically result in a claim? I'm insured through USAA and have coverage for pretty much everything they would sell me, but if the estimate is low I'd rather just pay for it out of pocket. From what I can tell, the window is going to have to be removed, seal replaced, floor replaced, window framing and possibly some drywall replaced as well.

The other hitch is that my policy expires tomorrow. I am renewing through USAA, does that mean I can make a claim on the previous policy? I know, I should have had an estimate prior to this point and shouldn't have procrastinated.

Thanks for any advice

If you call it in, it will result in a claim. A weather related claim has little effect on you individually. If the damage is less than your deductible or if you decide to fix yourself with no insurance money, the claim will show as a zero-paid loss on your history. Not a big deal.

As a policyholder you have the responsibility to report a claim within a reasonable time frame. This is so steps can be taken to prevent any additional damage.

The policy renewing now has no effect as you had coverage on the date of loss.

If it's original hardwood the stuff can be matched pretty easily with finish on site replacement stock. It's still available in the original width.

Like DadAG10 said, if you call it in and they send someone out, it goes down as a claim. I wouldn't be too worried about that though. Your premiums are likely going to go up based on the kajillion other claims in your region being called in.

The only thing that matters on the dates is the date of loss. It stays with the policy you had at that time.

The amount they claim will depend on the adjuster that comes out. We are having hell with USAA lately. I have 3 cliaims with them right now for clients and all 3 are getting ugly. I have USAA personally too, and they used to be awesome, but they are starting to act just like the rest of the ins companies and denying everything they can and shorting clients on payouts that are fair and deserved.

For example.... we have one that they paid $25K on, and the job will take $105K to complete. Another one they paid $10K on and the job should be $28K. Same thing with the 3rd, and had one flat out denied a few months ago that should have been an easy claim.

Weird. I had my roof replaced early this year, and USAA's estimate and payout (less deductible) was within 1-2% of both of my primary bids.

Thanks all for the advice!