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A smarter home inventory: Maximize insurance reimbursement with Prisidio

Learn how to quickly build an inventory with a cloud-based vault.

Highlights

  • A home inventory helps you account for your valuables and prove their worth in case they’re lost, stolen, or damaged – key when filing an insurance claim.
  • Prisidio makes your inventory project simple, quick, and easy to organize.
  • Use your cloud-based vault to capture a photo of each item, along with a description, video story, value, and make/model.
  • Share specific items from or your whole home inventory with key people – family member, insurance agent, or accountant.

Do you maintain a current list of all your major belongings? Two-thirds of homeowners don’t have this information — a home inventory — within easy reach. Without a home inventory, it’s harder to prove ownership of your valuables, making recovering from an event more difficult should they become damaged or lost.

Last year, natural disasters caused $94 billion in insured losses, and that number is on the rise. Your insurance may cover these losses, but only if you can prove what was lost.

That’s where a home inventory comes in. If your belongings suffer damage – say, due to a fire, flood, or tornado – you can use your home inventory to prove their worth. (The same applies if they’re lost or stolen.) That’s key in case you have to file an insurance claim, qualify for tax relief, or apply for disaster relief.

With Prisidio as your digital vault, you can quickly build a home inventory, keep it updated, and reference and share it whenever you need to. Here, we’ll show you how.

It’s easy to get started

When creating a home inventory, you don’t have to catalog all your belongings at once. You can use your Prisidio app to catalog your valuables as you go about your day, simply using your phone.

Not sure where to start? We’ve got a few suggestions:

  • Log your most expensive items. With just a few high-value items in your home inventory, you can file a substantial insurance claim in case of any loss – and save thousands on otherwise costly replacements. 
  • Focus on what you use. It’s easy to log items one at a time as you use them. Choose a room, take out your phone, snap a pic, and log it directly in your mobile vault. Today it’s the art in the living room; another day, the stand mixer in the kitchen.
  • Catalog new purchases. Just acquired something new? Take a photo of big-ticket items right when you buy them – from cars to computers. Then, link them to related documents in your vault, like receipts, titles, warranties, and loan agreements.

Know what to catalog

A useful mindset to have: log everything that would be expensive to replace. Some things are obvious, like big-ticket electronics, valuable art and instruments, appliances, and furniture. Others – like clothes or craft supplies – might be affordable to replace one by one but costly if you lose everything.

And don’t forget about the things you can’t replace. Some items hold priceless memories, whether it’s your child’s artwork or your grandmother’s wedding ring. You can use Prisidio to log these items and tell their story with a short video. If they’re lost, stolen, or damaged, you’ll have a record that can keep those memories alive.

Build at your own pace

As you build your home inventory, remember that you don’t have to log everything at once. In fact, that approach can make it seem too daunting to start. Instead, aim to document your possessions as you use them. This can help make getting organized an effortless part of your life – and even a habit.

Prisidio makes that here-and-there approach incredibly doable. Because you can add items with just a few taps on your mobile app, you can snap a photo within Prisidio of items you want to log as you see them and immediately add them to your vault.

Log basic info about each item

When you create your home inventory, use your digital vault to capture key info about your belongings.

For each item, it’s easy to include these five basic things:

  1. A photo. Take a photo directly in Prisidio, upload an image from your photo library, or drag and drop one from your desktop storage.
  2. A video. Add a video recording to tell any item’s story, like the day you found that vintage coffee table.
  3. A description. Identify what it is, plus when and where you bought it.
  4. The item’s value. For hard evidence, upload photos of receipts or appraisals if you have them. You can even link to a website with the purchase price so you can document its current replacement value.
  5. The item’s make and model. Upload a photo of serial numbers, barcodes, or other identifying information.

If your valuables suffer damage, this info can help you prove losses in a homeowners insurance claim. This way, you’re more likely to receive an accurate and timely reimbursement.

Alongside the basics, Prisidio makes it easy to add more context, too. In your vault, you can indicate where an object is kept by linking it to a place or other items in your vault, like your credenza or home safe, second property, or offsite storage unit. Record a video about any item right in the app as you add it. If disaster strikes, you have easy access to the complete, updated list of your valuables – and you’ll have the evidence to communicate their worth.

Share your home inventory with key contacts

After you’ve created your home inventory, it helps to ensure the right people know about it and can access the information if needed. With Prisidio, providing vault access to individual items or whole categories of items is easy and secure. We suggest sharing your vault with your:

  • Family. Make your partner or child a vault Co-Owner so they can update your inventory as necessary.
  • Insurance agent. Your agent can review your home inventory to make sure you’ve got adequate coverage for your belongings.
  • Insurance adjuster. If you have to file an insurance claim, an adjuster can use this info to determine an accurate payout.
  • Accountant. If your valuables suffer disaster-related damage, your accountant may be able to help you secure a tax break or apply for disaster relief.

With these people included in your vault, connecting any of them to any vault items takes just a few seconds.

Of course, Prisidio holds more than just your home inventory and key contacts. Personal documents like insurance policies, medical information, and IDs are there too. With Prisidio’s share settings, people will see only what you show them. Prisidio gives you exclusive access control so you always know when and from where anyone accesses your vault, and you can keep your vault’s contents secure.

Easily manage your home inventory with Prisidio

Home inventories are a best practice for every homeowner and renter – and insurance experts agree. If someone steals your TV or your residence floods, you can use your home inventory to substantiate losses and save on out-of-pocket expenses. Being prepared will save you time and reduce stress.

Using your Prisidio cloud-based vault makes your inventory process simple.  With mobile access and secure storage, you can conveniently reach, update, and share your vault as you focus on living life more than on managing it.

Ready to get started?

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