Is it Legal to Waive a Deductible on a Home Owner's Insurance Claim in Oklahoma Law?

Deductible

A deductible is the amount the insured pays out of pocket before the insurance company pays toward a claim. The higher the policy deductible is, the less the premium is. That's because many people have smaller claims. Even though the claims are small, it costs quite a bit to process them in addition to paying the claim. The higher the deductible, the less likely the person is to submit a claim.

Insurance companies can offer several methods as incentives to purchase. One of them is the use of a disappearing deductible. In some cases, the deductible drops according to the number of years without a claim. In other cases, the deductible disappears according to the amount of damage. If the insured had $500 worth of damage, the deductible was $500. As the cost of the claim increased, the deductible decreased. If the amount increased beyond a certain point, such as $10,000, the deductible might disappear entirely.

No matter what the form of deductible, whether a straight deductible or disappearing deductible, insurance companies have to offer it to all clients with the same circumstances or it's an unfair business practice. However, today few if any companies offer a disappearing homeowner's deductible in any state, including Oklahoma. Companies do offer this option on car insurance.

One method of avoiding the deductible is through price inflation of a bid or billing. Some contractors do this as a service for clients, never intending on collecting the entire amount. It is illegal to exaggerate the amount of the claim to collect more from the insurance company or cover the deductible. Even though it is common practice, it is an attempt to defraud but is difficult to prove. If the contractor sends the final bill to the insurance company indicating he charged $9,500, when in reality he charged $8,000 and waived the client's $1,500 deductible, he's committed a blatant act of fraud that's easy to prove.

There are no ways to check whether you paid the entire amount. Some times the lower charge is legitimate. The contractor can find that the job doesn't cost as much to complete as originally anticipated or the client may do some of the work themselves, bringing down the cost of the contractor's payment. If an adjuster estimates the cost of the job, the company sends a check to the homeowner and charges less, thus rebating the deductible, there is no breach of insurance law or fraudulent act.