Underpaid Property Insurance Claims in South Carolina
An insurer can accept your claim and still pay far less than the repair costs. Halversen Law represents South Carolina homeowners, businesses and associations whose claims were underpaid.
Review Your Case Today | Call 843-284-5790
How underpayment happens
- Narrow scope: the adjuster’s estimate repairs part of a roof, room or system that needs full replacement.
- Low prices: unit prices below what local contractors charge, or missing labor, permits, overhead and profit.
- Missing items: interior damage, contents, code-required upgrades, or additional living expense left out.
- Depreciation: payment cut for age on an actual cash value policy, or held back on a replacement cost policy and never released.
- Deductible: a hurricane or named storm deductible applied when it should not be, or calculated wrong.
Compare the estimates line by line
Ask the insurer for its full estimate, not only the summary. Put it next to your contractor’s estimate and mark every line that is missing, smaller or priced lower. Most underpayment disputes are won or lost on those lines.
Depreciation that should be paid
On a replacement cost policy, the depreciation held back from the first payment is usually paid once repairs are done and invoiced. Under S.C. Code § 38-75-755, your insurer must disclose at issue and at each renewal whether your coverage is replacement cost or actual cash value and any depreciation or repair-time limits. Check the time limit to finish repairs so you do not lose the held-back amount.
Options when a claim is underpaid
- Send a written request for more payment with your contractor’s estimate and photos.
- Invoke appraisal if the insurer agrees the loss is covered and the fight is over the amount. See insurance appraisal.
- File a complaint with the South Carolina Department of Insurance, 803-737-6180.
- Sue on the policy before the 3-year limit (S.C. Code § 15-3-530(8)). See claim deadlines in South Carolina.
- Where the insurer refused to pay without reasonable cause, attorney fees may be available under § 38-59-40. See insurance bad faith.
Forcing a lawsuit by underpaying
S.C. Code § 38-59-20 lists, as an improper claim practice, compelling policyholders to sue by offering substantially less than they later recover, when done without just cause and often enough to show a general business practice.
See also denied claims.
Questions about a claim? Call 843-284-5790 or request a case review.
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every claim depends on its own policy and facts.