Homeowners insurance and a roof ?

[Smokin Okie]

Like most, my homeowner insurance premiums have gone through the roof ( no pun intended ). I need to shop around and get a lower rate. It comes due for renewal, the end of March.

But also, I need a new roof. Current roof is 12 years old. Its showing signs of wear. All of my neighbors have gotten new roofs over the past few years as we've had some substantial hail storms.

Do I change insurers then file a claim on the roof ?

Or go ahead and renew, file the claim, then shop for a better rate ?

Gal that cuts my hair recently got a new policy with State Farm, but after inspection, they denied her coverage because of some big trees around her house. And her husband has some cars he's rebuilding that they objected to.

I'm thinking my roof may not pass inspection with a new insurer.

 

[clifish]

Could go either way, I bet if you put a claim in now any new insurer will pick it up and possibly deny. 12 years is not very long for a roof, surprised it did not go 20+++

Was there a recent event that you could file a claim now? I just had $32K payout from my long time insurer for a leak and was promptly dropped after that. Any new company I called picked that claim up in minutes and told me to wait 3 years and call back. Finally my agent placed me with a company I never heard of @ a 35% increase from what I was paying.

 

[normanaj]

My wife has been working for a major insurance company for 41 years and her advice:

Considering the state of the insurance business (all regulatory) your best bet is to fix the roof yourself and avoid a claim if you have the financial ability to do so.The reason we have insurance though is to avoid having to do this but no record of a claim will make insurance shopping easier if you decide to move on,any prior claims will be considered.

So many factors are involved here.When was the hail damage caused and is it the soul reason for the wear,if you file a claim you may only get a partial payout and you still have your deductible to deal with.If this is your first claim you should be all set but may have to deal with another rate hike the following year and multiple claims will be taken into consideration.In the end this is your best option if this is your first claim.

You could change insurers and file a claim.Again the inspection may show normal wear along with hail damage and you get a partial claim or be denied altogether and then you're in a real jam,also these inspections may bring up other issues also.Again prior claims will be considered.She says doing this is a big no.

 

[sandyut]

Many variables. But, when we sold my MIL's house, the first contract came in and said the roof needed fixed before the contract would be signed. Filed a claim and the ins company wrote a check to us very quickly, it was very fast and easy. and we sold the house a couple weeks later and dropped the ins. I would get the new roof on your current policy, then change.

I have carried state farm for 40 years on everything cars, homes, umbrella coverage. they have always been good to me.

 

[BigW.]

Changing insurers then filing a claim for past events, while the house was not insured with them does not seem right. As you mentioned, some insurers will only insure new/recent roofs.

If you have hail damage, you should have got an inspection when all your neighbors did. There is a time limit for filing claims on storms. Most roofers will probably say you need a new roof. But, at least you'd know how bad your roof is, then file a claim if you still can.

You can also change insurers whenever, not just at annual renewal time.

 

[chopsaw]

Norm has you covered .
If you have the date of the last hail storm in your area , you should have 2 years to file a claim .
File a claim with the current provider , but know the details first . You should be able to find a weather report online . If you don't know the date ask a neighbor that had damage fixed and search that time period .

Don't get a new company and try to file . It won't fly , and they'll catch it on inspection anyway .

I'm dealing with the same right now . Had hail back in 2009 . Filed a claim , got a payout , but never fixed the roof . They called me one day and said I have to cash the check , or it would be cancelled . Roof is at 18 years right now , and that first payout is in an account by itself , so I still have that money to put into a new roof .
Another storm hit last March . Most everyone around me got a new roof . I plan to call this spring and see what they say for replacement . Full disclosure that I never fixed it the first time and still have that 10K . I know what they will say , but I'd rather take a beating than do someone dirty . Even if it is State Farm .

 

[clifish]

State farm is dropping everyone here in NY, they won't even write new policies unless you have your other stuff already insured with them for a while. I even know the owner of a local State Farm agency and they dropped him saying he lived too close to the water (2 miles and up a big hill)!!!!

 

[chopsaw]

State farm is dropping everyone here in NY,

They suck . Only way to say it . They mess with my car insurance monthly . I cancelled one car ( I think that's what they want ) , and it never fails . Takes about 2 monthly billing cycles and the bill is right back where it was , with one car less .
Been with them since I started driving . 48 years .

My Mom's been with them over 60 years . Just had some hail damage on her roof . I called them out , looked at the roof , and they offered her a check for $1.46 .
I can't post that conversation here .

 

[Smokin Okie]

Thanks for all the replies, I think the path is clear. Go ahead and renew.

And we've got storm season coming up here in Oklahoma. Not a good time for a new roof. I had planned to get the new roof in the summer time. Then I'll shop for a lower premium.

Don't have the data, but I suspect the life of a roof here in Oklahoma is much shorter than other parts of the country.

What I've found on insurance, both home and auto, is they will keep raising the premium and force the customer to shop it. Can't stay with one company very long.

 

[clifish]

They suck . Only way to say it . They mess with my car insurance monthly . I cancelled one car ( I think that's what they want ) , and it never fails . Takes about 2 monthly billing cycles and the bill is right back where it was , with one car less .
Been with them since I started driving . 48 years .

My Mom's been with them over 60 years . Just had some hail damage on her roof . I called them out , looked at the roof , and they offered her a check for $1.46 .
I can't post that conversation here .

Yep, my auto went up 29% this year, 5 cars is now $5800 per year and they don't even know my 25 YO and 22 YO are drivers in the household.

 

[sandyut]

I think its very regional and "seasonal" (for lack of a better word). I live in a high fire risk area, pretty much all the insurance companies that will give coverage here vary alot as to when they will add new policies or drop coverage. We got our home owners very easily, but a month later I heard they were not approving any new coverage. My rates have stayed the same for while now. But is Colorado and all our insurance is pretty spendy. By comparison, in Utah I was paying about $30 a month for my truck, in Colorado its more like $100+.

 

[clifish]

I think its very regional and "seasonal" (for lack of a better word). I live in a high fire risk area, pretty much all the insurance companies that will give coverage here vary alot as to when they will add new policies or drop coverage. We got our home owners very easily, but a month later I heard they were not approving any new coverage. My rates have stayed the same for while now. But is Colorado and all our insurance is pretty spendy. By comparison, in Utah I was paying about $30 a month for my truck, in Colorado its more like $100+.

Area has a lot to do with it. In NY my homeowners is $3600/year for a 1965 2100sq' house. My house in PA is only $620/year and is a 2020 built, 3300 sq' home.

 

[chef k-dude]

I have always had pretty good experiences with State Farm in Virginia. I haven't shopped insurance for a while, dont really want to deal with the hassle. You really have to pay close attention to your policy and the actual coverage. We have the house and cars insured and I even added earthquake insurance after we had one here some years back and also umbrella coverage for general liability out in the world.

Our costs have been rising like everyone else's. I want to think its an economic domino effect. Cant get in to why there has been the inflation because that is government and policy, but when everything else costs more, it makes sense that insurance would go up too. State Farm has raised ours, but at a rate that hasn't freaked us out...yet. Plus our cars are old, so not expensive. We actually worry about someone hitting our cars because they are much more valuable as old cars to us becasue there is no way they could be replaced with the knowledge of the maintenance we have done over the years on them.

Hail damage...my story...we were planning to get our roof replaced while we had the money. It was a 30 year old roof, so it was time, although we could have gotten a few more years out of it. I had three contractors look at it, they were all around the same price and I would have felt comfortable hiring any one of them. But, only 2 out of three actually got on the roof and one told me he thought we had a legitimate claim with insurance and showed me the pics of the hail damage on our roof (no leaks or anything and I had no idea there was damage).

He had an app that he plugged our address in to that showed we in fact had a storm (cant remember the timeline). That, combined with pictures of what was clear signs of hail damage got the insurance in motion. The roofer rep actually sat in my driveway for three or more hours waiting for the insurance picture-taker to arrive, went up on the roof with him and pointed everything out. State Farm covered the entirety of a 30 year old roof minus $1,800 deductible and extras like a new skylight and we had our shed done to match (it had damage from a branch I semi-repaired myself years ago).

The roofing co. sent a double crew and got us totally complete in one long day. They even sent an English as a first language American-born supervisor who stayed all day to observe and flew a drone taking pics of the whole thing as it happened that I downloaded for records.

All because we just decided to have our roof replaced one day! I'm sure insurance will go up because we are no longer a no-claim customer for however many years it was.

 

[crazzycajun]

You never see a insurance man driving a beat up pickup or ltd, I’m just saying

 

[LoydB]

Allstate promptly paid the $30k it took to completely replace the hail-damaged roof on my house. Then they denied the claim for my black neighbor across the street. It took a letter from a lawyer to suddenly get his claim paid. This is apparently not unusual behavior on their part.

 

[millerbuilds]

Do you have a documented hail storm you can tie the damaged roof to? If so, you will want to claim with the company that covered your property at the time of the event. Typically you have 12-24 months to make a claim on damage done by the event, most (if not all) will not approve claims for damage done prior to the commencement date of the policy.

If your roof is just old, then you are likely to have the claim denied.

In Texas (not sure how it works in Oklahoma) typically your insurance deductible is 1% or 2% of your homes value, so depending on the value, you might be able to make repairs for less than the out of pocket deductible.

- Jason

 

[Smokin Okie]

You never see a insurance man driving a beat up pickup or ltd, I’m just saying

My Dad was an insurance agent. He could tell you another side to that story.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Do you have a documented hail storm you can tie the damaged roof to? If so, you will want to claim with the company that covered your property at the time of the event. Typically you have 12-24 months to make a claim on damage done by the event, most (if not all) will not approve claims for damage done prior to the commencement date of the policy.

If your roof is just old, then you are likely to have the claim denied.

In Texas (not sure how it works in Oklahoma) typically your insurance deductible is 1% or 2% of your homes value, so depending on the value, you might be able to make repairs for less than the out of pocket deductible.

- Jason

I'm sure there's hail damage. Its rare to get through an Oklahoma storm season without getting hit with some size of hail.

And a F0 tornado blew down the tree in my front yard last May, along with some minor fence damage. There's no visible damage to the roof, but I've not had it inspected either.

That said, every time there's a hail storm, it seems half the people in the neighborhood get new roofs. I've resisted that. I've no doubt it drives premium prices higher.

I was up on the roof with a roofer and an adjustor about 15 years ago. The roofer was pointing out damage that the adjustor couldn't see, and neither could I .

If the roof wasn't leaking , I'm good with it.

 

[clifish]

Do you have a documented hail storm you can tie the damaged roof to? If so, you will want to claim with the company that covered your property at the time of the event. Typically you have 12-24 months to make a claim on damage done by the event, most (if not all) will not approve claims for damage done prior to the commencement date of the policy.

If your roof is just old, then you are likely to have the claim denied.

In Texas (not sure how it works in Oklahoma) typically your insurance deductible is 1% or 2% of your homes value, so depending on the value, you might be able to make repairs for less than the out of pocket deductible.

- Jason

I have never had a deductible on a claim 2% would be $16-20K for my house??

 

[millerbuilds]

I have never had a deductible on a claim 2% would be $16-20K for my house??

Yep, that is how hail/wind damage is done in Texas. A $800K Home (home value not home and land) house would be a $16K deductible. USAA offered straight deductibles ($1500-$3K) up until recently, my understanding how is that they are only writing new policies with the % of home value deductibles.

- Jason