In some states, there is an industry standard known as the "rule of 9" under which insurers calculate that 9 out of every 10 claimants simply accept whatever they're offered on claims,  This means that only 1 in 10 policyholders typically challenge a low offer or denial. 

Most homeowners are grossly underpaid by their insurance company on their claims by as much as 150% - 200% when they have property and content damage.

Haver you ever filed a property insurance claim and estimate your own damage and negotiate a fair settlement with our insurance company?  If you're like most homeowners, you did not negotiate your own settlement, allowing you to rebuild your damaged property back to pre loss condition and replace damaged contents.  This is where the problem lies. 

Most hard working people simply take what their insurance company offers them and go their way, even though they don't have enough money to completely rebuild or replace what was lost.

Thousands of complaints with state insurance regulators and civil court cases show that, insurers often paid only 30 to 60 percent fo the cost of rebuilding a damaged home and replacing damaged contents—even when insurance carriers assure homeowner they are fully covered.

The 60 million U.S. homeowners who pay more than $50 billion a year in insurance premiums are often disappointed when they discover insurers won't pay the full cost of rebuilding their damaged or destroyed home or replace damaged contents. 

Property insurers  systematically deny and reduce policyholder's claims, according to court records in California, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, New Hamphsire and Tennessee.

The insurance companies routinely refuse to pay market prices for homes and replacement contents, they use computer programs to cut payout, change policy coverage with no clear explaination, ignore or alter engineering reports, and sometimes, they ask adjusters to lie to customers, on court records and interviews with former employees, state regulators show. 

As pervasive as computers have become in the insurance industry, the key actors in settling claims is still the adjuster—the person who talks to policyholders and decides how much they should be paid.  Insurers sometimes order employees to offer replacement cost settlements that have no connection to actual prices of home contents, according to testimony in a civil trial.

A physician, sued his insurance company, claiming his home and its contents—including antiques and fine art—were worth $20 million, not the $1.7 million the insurer paid him.  After am 11-year battle, he settled for an undisclosed amount. 

Most homeowners take what insurers offer because they don't relize they're being deceived to conclude that fighting is too costly and difficult.  It's clear that cheating by insurers is a big, profitable business and regulators can't muster the will or political strength to stop them.  Virtually everyone who settles for what the insurer offers is taking less than they're owed for property and content damage.

Homeowners whose properties have been destroyed by catashrophes contend with low payouts, higher premiums, software programs that under estimate rebuilding costs and sudden changes in policy values—all of which have been calculated methods for insurers to increase profits.