The Proof You Cannot Provide
A burglary happens every 51 seconds in the United States according to FBI data. That totals 779,542 burglaries in 2024.
You file your insurance claim. The adjuster demands original purchase receipts for everything stolen.
Nobody keeps receipts for televisions bought five years ago. Nobody has receipts for jewelry received as gifts decades ago.
The insurance company knows this. They deny your claim for insufficient documentation.
How Insurance Companies Deny Burglary Claims
Insufficient Proof of Loss
This is the most common denial reason. Insurance companies claim you cannot prove what you owned or what was stolen.
They demand documentation you cannot reasonably provide. Original receipts from years ago do not exist.
They reject reasonable alternatives like photos, statements, and testimony. Nothing short of perfection satisfies them.
Police Report Discrepancies
You file a police report immediately after discovering the burglary. In shock and stress, you estimate losses quickly.
Later investigation reveals additional stolen items you missed initially. You update your insurance claim to reflect actual losses.
Insurance companies claim discrepancies between police reports and insurance claims prove fraud. They ignore that discovering full losses takes time.
Vacancy Exclusions
Policies exclude coverage when homes remain vacant beyond specified periods. Most allow 30 to 60 days before exclusions apply.
Insurance companies claim any unoccupied period constitutes vacancy. Your weekend home burglarized on a Tuesday gets denied.
Your primary residence burglarized during a two-week vacation gets denied. They claim vacancy whenever it suits denial purposes.
Suspicious Circumstances
Insurance companies hire investigators who find suspicious patterns in everything. You increased coverage recently. Suspicious.
You have financial problems. Suspicious. You cannot provide perfect documentation. Suspicious.
They manufacture fraud allegations from normal circumstances. Any claim over a few thousand dollars triggers investigation.