SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - With a handful of homes and dozens of cars damaged by Thursday's plane crash in Murphy Canyon, one insurance expert tells ABC 10News recovery will be measured in months or years, not days.
"The first thing I always say is to focus on your family and safety. Then call your insurance company," says David Melzer, the President and Owner of Property Claims Consultant.
Melzer works as a public insurance adjuster, helping people navigate the bureaucracy of the insurance claims process and advocating for policy owners to make sure they get what they should.
"When I worked with the insurance companies, the goal was 30 to 60 days for cars. It's a little bit more finite time frame there when it comes to the cars," he says. "But for some of the properties and homes, when it comes to severe damages, we've seen upwards of two, three, four years for that full settlement to take place."
Melzer says it can take a while for an adjuster to do inspections. There can also be delays with permits and hiring contractors.
Homes, he says, are usually covered for fire damage, even if it comes from a plane crash. Cars will be covered under the "comprehensive" portion of the policy.
Melzer also advises people to review their policies and take a full account of everything in their homes and cars, and check the reports from the insurance company to make sure it's accurate.
"What people often overlook is that within a home, you can have thousands of little items. The example I always give is the junk drawer: How many little items do you have in a junk drawer? And make sure you capture that fully because that can impact the value of that settlement claim," Melzer says.
However, he adds that the companies are well prepared to handle situations like this, as most policies cover these kinds of rare disasters, especially when they only impact one street or a small neighborhood.
"I've seen the event that happened, but I don't know the quantity of cars and homes that were impacted. But in any neighborhood, let's just say a neighborhood of 100 homes, you probably have a dozen or maybe more different insurance companies that insure all of those homes. So it's not too much of a huge impact to one insurance company. So, something like this I would imagine would be jumped on fairly quickly," he says.
