Proving what you owned is the burden you must overcome.
Intruders broke into your home, stole items and caused damage to the structure. What decides a theft claim is whether the scene was left alone for the police, and whether you can prove you owned what is gone — because that’s on you, not your insurance company.
Two calls, and the policy wants both
A police report and prompt notice to your insurance company. Neither one replaces the other.
Both a theft claim and a vandalism claim need a police report. Your insurance company will ask whether you have called the police and will want the report number, so have it in hand when you report the loss — it’s the document the whole conversation runs on.
What you need to do and what you can expect
- Don’t touch anything until the police have investigated.
- Where there’s no obvious forced entry, the untouched scene is the whole answer.
- Photograph and video everything before you secure the building.
- Secure the property once the police are finished.
- Keep what was damaged until the adjuster has inspected it.
- Report the loss to your insurance company with the report number in hand.
The burden is yours
This is the part people are unprepared for. Your insurance company isn’t required to take your word for a list of missing property, and on a theft claim there’s nothing left to inspect. The proof is whatever you can produce.
What you should be looking for
- Photographs you already have. Holidays, birthdays, a get-together in the living room. Nobody photographs their belongings on purpose, but almost everybody has pictures with those belongings in the background. Go looking.
- Receipts and invoices. The obvious one, and the one nobody keeps. Look through email as well as paper.
- Go back to where you bought it. Most retailers keep purchase history on your account and will produce a list of what you bought and when. It costs a phone call.
- Serial numbers, appraisals, manuals and boxes. Anything that ties a specific item to you at a specific value.
- Bank and credit card statements. A line item and a date is a record of the purchase even when the receipt is long gone.
- The age and condition of each item. Contents are generally settled at actual cash value first, and age and condition are what drive that number.
Vandalism is its own claim
Vandalism and malicious mischief is damage done on purpose, and it doesn’t need anybody to have stolen anything. It’s handled as its own claim, it needs its own police report, and it’s reported the same way and on the same clock as any other loss.
What to look for
- Broken glass, forced doors, damaged fixtures and cut screens.
- Graffiti on the structure, inside and out.
- Water left running on purpose, and drains packed to make it overflow.
- Deliberate damage found after a tenant moves out.
- Stripped copper, cut lines and removed equipment.
- Photograph it before anything is cleaned up.
Contents loss due to theft? Know your special limits of coverage.
Your declarations page shows a figure for Coverage C, personal property. Underneath it, the policy carves out categories with their own much smaller caps, and several of them apply specifically to theft. These are generally the numbers that decide what a theft claim pays.
“These limits do not increase the Coverage C limit of liability. The special limit for each category below is the total limit of each loss for all property in that category.”
“$200 on money, bank notes, bullion, gold other than goldware, silver other than silverware, platinum other than platinumware, coins, medals, scrip, stored value cards. This also includes any ‘virtual currency’.”
“$1,000 on securities, accounts, deeds, evidences of debt… manuscripts, personal records, passports, tickets and stamps.”
“$1,000 for loss by theft of jewelry, watches, furs, precious and semi-precious stones.”
“$2,000 for loss by theft of firearms.”
“$2,500 for loss by theft of silverware, silver-plated ware, goldware, gold-plated ware and pewterware.”
“$1,000, subject to a maximum amount of $250 per item, on all memorabilia and collectibles.”
Example language · wording and figures vary by carrier and by policyNot all policies read the same. Read yours for your own special limits of coverage.
Note the words for loss by theft on the jewelry, firearms and silverware categories. Those caps are written for theft.
A vacant dwelling can exclude theft and vandalism
Leave a dwelling vacant for more than thirty consecutive days and theft coverage can go away entirely.
“If the dwelling where loss or damage occurs has been vacant for more than 30 consecutive days before the loss or damage, we will not pay for any loss or damage caused by any of the following perils, even if they are Covered Causes of Loss: (a) Vandalism; (b) Sprinkler leakage, unless you have protected the system against freezing; (c) Dwelling glass breakage; (d) Water damage; (e) Theft; or (f) Attempted theft.”
“Dwellings under construction or seasonal and secondary residences are not considered vacant.”
Example language · vacancy wording is close between carriers, but read your own“Unoccupied means the dwelling is not being occupied as a residence.”
“Vacant means the dwelling lacks the necessary amenities, adequate furnishings, or utilities and services to permit occupancy of the dwelling as a residence.”
Example language · wording and figures vary by carrier and by policyWhat those two definitions actually mean
- Two different words, and only one of them triggers the exclusion. The provision says vacant.
- A dwelling standing empty isn’t automatically vacant. It’s vacant when it lacks what a person would need to live there.
- A furnished home with the power on, the water on and the owner’s belongings still in it lacks nothing.
- It isn’t unoccupied either. It’s still being occupied as a residence, a secondary one.
- Being three states away for the summer doesn’t change what the dwelling is being used for.
- The policy says as much in its own carve-out. Seasonal and secondary residences aren’t considered vacant, and neither is a dwelling under construction.
- Some carriers say inhabited rather than occupied. Different word, same outcome.
- The same policy excludes vandalism and malicious mischief after thirty consecutive days vacant, with the same carve-out for a dwelling being constructed.
What to look for in your policy
- Your all-other-perils deductible. How much is it?
- Your Coverage C limit on contents, and whether it’s replacement cost or actual cash value.
- The special limits of liability, category by category. Cash, jewelry, firearms, silverware, collectibles.
- Whether a single unscheduled item is capped at a percentage of your contents limit.
- What you have scheduled, and what it’s scheduled for. An appraisal from fifteen years ago isn’t today’s value.
- Your Coverage A limit on the dwelling, and Coverage B on other structures. Vandalism damage to the building sits there, not under contents.
- The vacancy provision, and how your policy defines vacant and unoccupied.
- Yearly renewals often change coverages in previous policies. Review all endorsement changes yearly.
After a theft or vandalism loss: Dos and Don’ts
Dos
- Call the police first and get the report number. Every theft and every act of vandalism needs its own report.
- Leave the scene exactly as you found it until the police are finished. Especially where there’s no sign of forced entry.
- Photograph and video everything before anything is touched, cleaned or boarded up.
- Secure the property once the police release it. That’s your duty under the policy.
- Read your special limits before you prepare your contents inventory list. They’re generally what decides the number.
- Go looking for proof you already have. Old photographs, email receipts, retailer purchase history, bank statements, appraisals, serial numbers.
- Keep the damaged material on the property until it has been inspected. The splintered jamb and the cut screen are the evidence.
- Keep dated notes of every conversation. Who you spoke with, when, and what they said.
- Keep everything that documents the claim in one place. Photographs, the police report, invoices, receipts, correspondence and your notes.
Don’ts
- Don’t tidy up. Not the drawers, not the glass, not the locks. A scene nobody disturbed is worth more than a clean house.
- Don’t paint over graffiti or replace the door before it’s photographed. Once it’s gone there’s nothing left to show anyone.
- Don’t skip the police report because nothing was taken. Vandalism needs one too.
- Don’t guess at a value or a date of purchase. A list that can’t be supported costs you more than a shorter list that can.
- Don’t leave anything off the list because you assume it’s capped. Which category an item falls in is a policy question, not a guess.
- Don’t throw anything out before it’s inspected and inventoried and agreed upon by the insurance company.
- Don’t assume a property standing empty is a vacant dwelling. Vacant and unoccupied are two different words, each defined in your policy, and only one of them triggers the exclusion.
This isn’t everything. Your policy carries conditions and duties that apply after a loss, and they’re yours to meet whether or not they appear here. Read your own policy in full. If something in it doesn’t make sense, call me — it’s a twenty-minute phone call about the loss, whether or not you hire me.
These are the ones specific to this kind of loss. Select the link for the Dos and Don’ts that apply to every claim.
The call that matters
Report it to your insurance company, then call or email me. It’s a twenty-minute phone call about the loss, and I’ll tell you what proof you’re going to need.
You stay in control of your claim. That’s the whole point.