Hail Tips from a Contractor

There has been some talk about hail damage here and wanted to share some facts to make your life easier.

A hail damage claim will not raise your rates as it is considered an act of god and not within our control

Some previous advice to avoid storm chasers is spot on. Many are fly by night and from out of the area and if they do a poor job you wil be unable to contact them after the fact to get repairs done as they will now be in OK or Texas, etc.

If you have dents in your vehicle your roof is most likely damaged to the point that your insurance will pay for a new one.

Find a good local general contractor who will look out for your interests

Make sure you contractor has lots of good reviews on Angies, home advisor, google reviews, yelp etc. before you sign with them.

I am a field supervisor for a highly reputable local general contractor and we do not storm chase. about a week after the hail our phone will start ringing when peoplw become fed up with the storm chasers bugging them to death.

I actually turned a small initial hail damage claim into a full siding and window replacement for one of the moderators on here a couple of years ago and he was very happy with our work.

If you need any more info or just want to make sure that your ins company is treating you fairly feel free to shoot me a PM.

To add the this already great post,
I spend several years working for an exteriors contractor doing primarily local storm damage. It is my advice to let a contractor work with your insurance company on your behalf to determine a true and accurate list of the damage. This process does not involve a “bid” but instead the “scope of loss” paperwork provided by your insurance company should be the list and cost of the work to be done by your contractor, excluding any “upgrades” or additional work being done at the same time that is not covered by the scope of loss.

This may seem odd but there are actually two scenarios that I have found to be interesting.
1. If your adjuster is an “in house adjuster”, meaning they are an employee of your insurance company, I found that sometimes they would “miss” a lot of things that were damaged and almost try to skimp on the amount they would cover.
2. Many times though adjusters are from and outside company and are subcontracted. Meaning that they get paid by a % of the damage they find on each claim, most times this was good for the homeowner as the adjuster gets paid more if he can find more damage.

Many times I we would see the same adjusters on several different clients homes and you began to develop a relationship with them white was good in most cases…

Please do not try to work it so you do not have a deductible, that technically is fraud and is not good for either party. Though I do agree that the insurance company is making money off you through premiums paid, you are the one who chose the deductible in you policy based on what you wanted covered and your out of pocket cost.
Please realize that not all contractors are bad, just like any other purchase you make, do your research first. Ask for a list of references and spend some time calling them and possibly even go see some of their work with permission of that home owner.

Just remember that because your insurance company sends you the initial scope of loss document does not mean that is all they are going to pay, it is to your benefit to have that double checked by a respected contractor to look for over looked damage or quantities that are not enough to get the entire job done.

Finally, do not just go spending the check or other things just because you have the check in the bank. Many times you have up to 2 years to get the work completed and you mortgage company will be looking for that work to be done as they have a vested interest in maintaining the property value. It was pretty easy to tell those that had spent the money and were looking for the work to be done as cheap as possible when the storm that caused the damage in the area was a year and a half ago…

chubby wrote:

There has been some talk about hail damage here and wanted to share some facts to make your life easier.

A hail damage claim will not raise your rates as it is considered an act of god and not within our control

Not so sure about the rate increase part of this.
9 years ago had a light in an aquarium short out and cause a small fire. No structural damage but terrible smoke damage from the plastic light. Insurance Comp. paid for everything.
The very next year had hail damaged roof. Insurance paid the hail for everything. I paid my $500 deductible both times. 30 days after the roof check was cashed I received a letter stating H owner policy was being cancelled in 90 days.
My independent agent checked with 21 companies and only 3 would cover my house. All 3 had deductibles of 1500 to 2300 dollars. Went with different agent and small Mutual Company and got same coverage for $71 more than I was paying before.
The reason given for cancelation was too many claims. Those were the only 2 claims I had turned in in 15 years with them. I had no control over either of them.
I now shop most of my insurance policies at least every 2 years.
They have earned no loyalty from me after that.

In MN is it illegal for an insurance company to raise your rates or cancel you due to a storm damage claim.

Most insurance companies are pretty good to work with and want the insured to be well taken care of.

That being said I am currently dealing with 4 claims that the insurance companies are running me around on. I do however win for the homeowner/insured 100% of the time after jumping through the hoops.

One thing to keep in mind is that if your deductable is $1000 that is what you will pay whether you have someone do a $5000 roof job or a $15,000 roof job your deductable is $1000.00

If a contractor is offering to cover even a penny of your deductable you need to end contact with that contractor as they are asking you to commit insurance fraud and you be at risk for being criminaly charged and dropped by your insurance company as well as finding no other insurance company will cover you due to the insurance fraud issue on your history. If you have no insurance your mortgage company will put their own insurance on your mortgage payments and you will likely be paying $20-$30,000 a yr. for this due to it being a high risk policy.

This is a big deal in MN right now and they are looking hard at this.

Find a reputable contractor, get it repaired right, pay your deductable and your life will be groovy!

chubby wrote:

A hail damage claim will not raise your rates as it is considered an act of god and not within our control

I find it highly suspicious that everyone I personally know who has had their insurance rates either suddenly jacked up sky high or canceled altogether due to “market risk reassessments” or other dubious-sounding reasons are also the ones who have filed storm damage claims in previous years.

Insurance companies hate paying out. Whether it’s legal or not, I find it impossible to believe that they aren’t looking every day for reasons to jack up rates or terminate anyone who files a claim. Filing a claim is just waving your hand and saying, “Yoooo hoooo. Over here! Cancel me! Jack up MY rates!”

Grouse

For once I do not agree with Grouse. I’m not about to debate it, but I will just say insurance companies do not arbitrarily “jack up rates” nor seek to “terminate anyone”. Claims experiences do differ a great deal from one company to the next though, so I am only speaking for myself and my experiences with one company. Filing a claim is why you have insurance, and making an informed decision on when to file is part of the value of having a personal relationship with your agent.

For those of you who were NOT hit by hail, now is a good time to talk to your agent. Minnesota has seen a crazy increase in the volume of wind/hail claims recently, as well as the cost to pay those claims out has increased. So a lot of companies have passed more of that risk onto clients through separate Wind/Hail deductible’s or moving to Actual Cash Value coverage (paying a depreciated amount out for your loss, rather than the cost to replace it). Feel free to PM me with any more specific questions.

There is so much to say and hear on this topic. Some true some not.
Werm, I totally agree with your statement(s).

And skeeter there is a difference (werm you can correct me) between an act of nature claim and a short in a cord claim.

fyi – one year I roofed the same house twice because of 2 storms that hit up in Hugo. Insurance payed both times and didn’t bat an eye, because it was an act of nature.

My biggest problem with insurance companies is, they will write out a claim and give the HO a check and say see ya.
I wish they would educate the HO a bit more on the proper procedure they should follow. First and foremost the HO needs to show the adjustment to the Contractor, second tell them they don’t need to get bids, they just need to hire a qualified contractor.

and as far as talking to your Agent, amen to that. Have your agent walk you thru your policy. There are quite a few items that once were covered in your basic policy and now they are pay for coverage on a rider. aka “matching”.
This is big as you will get your entire roof replaced not just one slope.

Rates have gone up in recent years because there have been more frequent and severe storms around the country.

Isurance companies are not allowed to reccomend a contractor or require that you get bids. You are allowed to choose whoever you wish to do the repairs.

MN is a matching state which means that if you have even one damaged shingle or piece of siding that cannot be matched then they have to replace all of it. No if ands or buts, it is the law.

Keep in mind that if you have had damage that was repaired with materials that do not match then the insurance company no longer has to pay to have eveything match and they are off the hook.

Agents are often bonused on low loss ratios so they may not be eager to have you file a claim that will increase thier loss ratio.

In cases where push comes to shove the homeowner will always win against the insurance company.