What questions does an adjuster actually ask?
- A description of the item - make, model, serial number where it has one - The item's photo and details, filled in when you scanned it
- Roughly when and where you got it - Your own notes on the item
- Its condition before the loss - The dated photos, showing the item as it actually lived
- What it was worth - An estimated value for orientation - keep receipts and formal valuations too
How many homes could answer those questions today?
About half. In the Insurance Information Institute's 2023 consumer survey with Munich Re, 47 percent of US homeowners said they had prepared an inventory of their possessions to help document losses for their insurers - which leaves the other half reconstructing rooms from memory, at the worst possible time.
How does a photographed catalog do the answering?
Walk the rooms with the camera once. samla.ai, the AI app for cataloging collections, gives each object a photo, a description and its own place, filed room by room - the exact shape a claim conversation wants. Instead of reconstructing the bookshelf from memory, you scroll to it.
When the documentation needs to leave the app, export a PDF grouped by room, photos and details included (export is a Pro and Ultra feature). samla.ai helps you document and organize what you own - what a particular insurer accepts is always the insurer's call, so keep receipts and serial numbers wherever you have them. The values shown are estimates for informational purposes, never professional appraisals.
FAQ
Will my insurer accept a samla.ai catalog as proof?
That is always the insurer's call, so ask yours what they want to see. What a catalog gives you is the raw material every insurer asks for - dated photos, descriptions and a room-by-room list - which is a far stronger starting point than memory. Keep receipts and serial numbers alongside it.
What about genuinely valuable pieces?
Ask your insurer whether they should be listed separately on the policy - practices differ between companies and countries. For those pieces, the catalog's estimates are orientation, never professional appraisals: get a formal appraisal for anything where the number really matters, and keep it with your records.
How often should I update the inventory?
Little and often beats a yearly marathon. Scan new purchases as they arrive, and re-photograph a room when it changes noticeably. An up-to-date record costs seconds at a time - and it is exactly the version of your home you want on file the day something happens.
