What to Do If Your Insurance Claim Is Taking Too Long

Last Updated: September 2026

If your insurance claim is taking too long, you may not simply have to keep waiting for the insurance company to make a decision. While some property insurance claims require additional inspections, estimates, or documentation, Florida law establishes specific deadlines for how insurers must acknowledge, investigate, and respond to many claims.

For Florida property insurance claims, insurers generally must acknowledge claim communications within 7 calendar days. Florida law also generally requires an insurer to pay or deny an initial, reopened, or supplemental property insurance claim within 60 days after receiving notice of the claim, subject to limited exceptions and circumstances that may pause or extend the deadline.

If weeks have passed without meaningful progress, your adjuster repeatedly requests the same information, inspections keep getting delayed, or the insurer cannot explain when a decision will be made, those may be signs that your claim needs closer attention.

This guide explains how long an insurance claim should take, why insurance claims get delayed, warning signs of an unreasonable delay, and the steps you can take to move a delayed claim forward.

For a detailed explanation of Florida’s insurance deadlines, see How Long Does an Insurance Company Have to Pay a Claim in Florida?

These timeframes are general requirements and certain circumstances can affect when a deadline begins, whether it is paused, or whether additional investigation is permitted.

If your insurer has gone well beyond these timeframes without giving you a clear explanation, your claim may require closer review.

For a more detailed explanation of Florida insurance deadlines, read How Long Does an Insurance Company Have to Pay a Claim in Florida?

Some delays are part of a normal investigation. The concern is when the claim remains stalled without a clear reason, the insurer repeatedly asks for the same information, inspections are postponed, or you cannot get a meaningful update on what is still needed.

If the delay involves a property insurance claim, it is also important to compare the insurer’s actions with the applicable Florida claim deadlines discussed above.

• The insurer repeatedly asks for documents you already submitted.
• Your inspection has been postponed or rescheduled multiple times.
• You cannot get a clear answer about what information is still needed.
• Your adjuster stops responding to calls, emails, or written requests.
• The insurer continues investigating without explaining what remains unresolved.
• Weeks pass after an inspection without an estimate, payment, or coverage decision.
• The insurer changes adjusters repeatedly and the claim appears to restart each time.
• The carrier attributes delays to internal review without providing a meaningful timeline.
• You receive partial payment but no explanation about the remaining disputed amount.
• The claim remains open well beyond the expected timeframe without a clear reason.

One warning sign by itself does not necessarily mean the insurer is acting improperly. The larger concern is a pattern of repeated delays combined with poor communication, unexplained requests, or a failure to make meaningful progress toward resolving the claim.

If your claim has reached this point, keep a written record of every communication, document request, inspection, estimate, and response from the insurance company. That timeline can become important if the delay later becomes disputed.

Learn more about potentially improper claim delays in What to Do About a Bad Faith Insurance Delay.

A claim delay is not automatically improper. Complex losses, disputed causes of damage, supplemental claims, severe-weather claim volume, and missing documentation can all extend the process.

However, insurers are still expected to comply with applicable claim-handling requirements and communicate with policyholders throughout the process. In Florida property insurance claims, statutory deadlines may apply to claim acknowledgment, investigation, and payment or denial.

If the insurer keeps extending the process without identifying what information is missing, repeatedly requests the same documents, or leaves the claim unresolved without a meaningful explanation, it may be appropriate to review whether the delay is reasonable.

Learn more about the distinction between a normal investigation and a potentially improper delay in Bad Faith Insurance Delays: What Policyholders Should Know.

Start by reviewing the insurer’s written decision, estimate, and coverage explanation. Compare those documents with your policy, photographs, contractor estimates, repair invoices, and any expert reports you have obtained.

• Identify whether the dispute involves coverage, causation, repair scope, pricing, depreciation, or the deductible.
• Request a written explanation for any unpaid or excluded portion of the claim.
• Compare the insurer’s estimate with contractor or repair estimates.
• Document damage that may have been missed during the original inspection.
• Preserve all emails, letters, estimates, photographs, and claim notes.
• Review whether a supplemental claim or additional documentation may be appropriate.

If the insurer has denied the claim entirely, the denial letter should identify the policy language or factual basis being relied upon. A denial does not always mean there are no further options, particularly if the evidence or policy language supports a different interpretation.

For more information, read What to Do If Your Home Insurance Claim Is Denied.