Hail Damage....Need help dealing with insurance!

[daisy2jae]

We had a thunderstorm come through on 7/9 and we got golf ball size hail. We bought our house "new" November 2008. There is nothing wrong with the house. With the hail storm we got damage to the deck, garage door, screens, gutters, fence, etc.. The roof has shingles with holes and spots that the gravel has been "beat off". The ajustor came and said it shows some wear but not enough to replace the shingles. They state giving us 25% of the life is more than they should be giving us. They also stated the the back gutters need replaced but the front and sides only have 1 -2 dents (golf ball size) therefore it shouldn't be replaced. These dents can be seen from the ground looking up. I had 3 roofing companies look at it and all 3 said it needs replaced. Within the next year we will start to have black spots showing up. I have explained this to the insurance company and they still don't want to replace it. To top it off we have 8 neighbors so far that will be getting new roofs with the same issues we have. But they have different insurance companies than we do. I want my roof fixed how do I go about getting my insurance to pay for it. I feel like since I'm a woman and younger they think they can get by with giving me the run around. I already had them come back twice and had more items added. They did a quick run around the property in 30 minutes and had the est wrote. They wanted a signature so they could get on their way. I don't care if there is only 1 dent in my gutter. It looks like a golf ball tried going through it. I can never resell the property in the future with it looking like this. Please help me deal with this! I can't afford to pay for a new roof.

 

[HsvTeacher]

We had a thunderstorm come through on 7/9 and we got golf ball size hail. We bought our house "new" November 2008. There is nothing wrong with the house. With the hail storm we got damage to the deck, garage door, screens, gutters, fence, etc.. The roof has shingles with holes and spots that the gravel has been "beat off". The ajustor came and said it shows some wear but not enough to replace the shingles. They state giving us 25% of the life is more than they should be giving us. They also stated the the back gutters need replaced but the front and sides only have 1 -2 dents (golf ball size) therefore it shouldn't be replaced. These dents can be seen from the ground looking up. I had 3 roofing companies look at it and all 3 said it needs replaced. Within the next year we will start to have black spots showing up. I have explained this to the insurance company and they still don't want to replace it. To top it off we have 8 neighbors so far that will be getting new roofs with the same issues we have. But they have different insurance companies than we do. I want my roof fixed how do I go about getting my insurance to pay for it. I feel like since I'm a woman and younger they think they can get by with giving me the run around. I already had them come back twice and had more items added. They did a quick run around the property in 30 minutes and had the est wrote. They wanted a signature so they could get on their way. I don't care if there is only 1 dent in my gutter. It looks like a golf ball tried going through it. I can never resell the property in the future with it looking like this. Please help me deal with this! I can't afford to pay for a new roof.

Boy, if you lived in Alabama, I'd think we were neighbors! We just got a claim denial in the mail today, and I'm livid!

We had three storms come through in April and May that had tornados and hail. We called our insurance complany (Ameriprise) and put in a claim. They sent an adjuster out on Saturday that stayed for all of about 15 minutes. He said he didn't see any hail damage, only minor wind damage.

A couple of days later, we called a roofing company to come out and survey the damage. The roofer said we definitely had hail and wind damage and gave us an estimate. (As with you, most of our neighbors have had their roofs replaced due to the hail/wind damage.) We waited for our insurance company to call us back, as they had promised, so we could tell them what the roofer said. Today, we received a letter in the mail denying our claim. The letter also stated that our deductible was $1000, although we have a $500 deductible.

We've had this insurance since we bought our house in 2000 and have never had a claim. We're livid that they denied the claim and didn't contact us as they had promised. I really don't see how so many houses around us could have hail damage, and our house was completely missed. I'm also concerned that they listed our deductible as being higher than it should, according to our declarations/renewal page.

I think we're in for a fight!

 

[L107ANGEL]

Have you considered filing an unfair claim practice against your ins co with the state?

 

[swilshire]

A few years ago, my mother had a roof badly damaged from hail. All the neighbors with other insurance companies got new roofs. She, as a State Farm policy holder, was told she didn't need a new roof and then about a month later they cancelled her insurance for no good reason.

I hope you win this fight and promptly change insurance companies. What crooks some of them are.

Sheila

 

[mnrose]

If you think you've had storm damage to your home, have YOUR contractor up on the roof, and doing the premise visit, WITH the adjuster. That way it's much harder for the insurance company to argue that they don't "see" what your contractor sees. When we had our insurance claim last year for hail damage (fully paid by our company, American Family), we had our contractor come before the adjuster, and he "premarked" the roof with chalk on the damaged areas he saw...and note that there must be "X" number of strikes of a certain size per 10 square feet (or something like that) before you will get your roof replaced. So, when the adjuster got there, he could see exactly what our guy saw. There was no question that it needed replacing, and we had our check almost immediately.

Since you are passed that stage, you need to follow the appeal process spelled out for your carrier. Keep pushing! They will not want you to sue them if your case is as good as you think. They are probably just trying to buy your claim as cheaply as possible.

 

[dawson5]

there can also be two different kinds of adjuster's. One that is a company man, who tries to keep it as little as possible and one who is a sub-contractor. Our home was hit badly last year by hail and our car. Just like PP stated, we had our roofer up with the adjuster and actually the adjuster found more wrong than the roofer did (siding, shingles and windows). Good luck.

 

[angwill]

Boy that stinks. I am sorry to hear that an insurance company would give a person such a hard time.

We have State Farm and just had a claim for wind damage last year and they agreed to replace our roof and our siding for us. I couldn't believe it because I though they would just have the one area of shingles that were missing replaced but they gave us a whole new roof. The siding was only on one side and again they offered to replace the whole house since an exact match in siding couldn't be found.

I had more problems with our mortgage company not wanting to sign the check till all the work was done and inspected by their inspector than we did getting the check from State Farm.

I hope you get them to repair the damage for you that is why we pay for insurance.

Good luck

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

We had a bad hail storm in March which totaled our roof. My DH got up on the roof and took pictures, and even to my untrained eye, I could see the damage. So ask your DH to get on your roof and see if he can see the damage, and photograph it. There will also be shingle dust particles in your gutters or on the ground where the hail beat if off the shingles. Our hail wasn't nearly as big as what you described, but it covered the ground completely in a matter of a few minutes. Our insurance adjuster was wonderful. He totaled our roof, totaled the storage building (it wasn't damaged except for the paint beaten off the roof, totaled my greenhouse, and did $4000 in damage to my truck. We also had damage to our central AC unit. I feel the adjuster only totaled the storage building to cover our deductible. That helped us to not have to pay any money out of pocket for our new roof.

Keep trying with your insurance company, and get pictures of your roof, and appeal their denial. I really feel you can force them to pay for a new roof. I would also contact your state's insurance commissioner and complain. Good luck.

 

[nuttypretzel]

Hire your own public adjuster. They take a percentage of your claim, but are well worth it if the insurance company won’t pay. They only get paid if you get paid so they have to be good or they go out of business. The public adjusters know ways to maximize the claim so most of their fee will be covered when you go to do the actual repairs. Our association got $400,000 on a claim that the insurance compny was going to pay zero on because their adjuster had the claim at less than the deductible.

 

[DVC-Don]

Our neighbors have State Farm and had wind damage to their roof two years ago. The roofer met the adjuster and both walked the roof. State Farm agreed to pay for a new roof. The neighbors had the roof spot repaired and put in a new pool with the rest of the money. The roof looks like crap, but that's their business. The key is to get the adjuster and the roofer there at the same time.

 

[HsvTeacher]

Boy, if you lived in Alabama, I'd think we were neighbors! We just got a claim denial in the mail today, and I'm livid!

We had three storms come through in April and May that had tornados and hail. We called our insurance complany (Ameriprise) and put in a claim. They sent an adjuster out on Saturday that stayed for all of about 15 minutes. He said he didn't see any hail damage, only minor wind damage.

A couple of days later, we called a roofing company to come out and survey the damage. The roofer said we definitely had hail and wind damage and gave us an estimate. (As with you, most of our neighbors have had their roofs replaced due to the hail/wind damage.) We waited for our insurance company to call us back, as they had promised, so we could tell them what the roofer said. Today, we received a letter in the mail denying our claim. The letter also stated that our deductible was $1000, although we have a $500 deductible.

We've had this insurance since we bought our house in 2000 and have never had a claim. We're livid that they denied the claim and didn't contact us as they had promised. I really don't see how so many houses around us could have hail damage, and our house was completely missed. I'm also concerned that they listed our deductible as being higher than it should, according to our declarations/renewal page.

I think we're in for a fight!

Well, we just got off the phone with our insurance company. Even though their letter said our claim was closed, the insurance agent said that the first claim denial was just a preliminary report. (Yeah right! )

The insurance company is sending out a different adjuster (not Mr. Useless) to meet with our roofer. We called our roofer to tell him, and he told us that most insurance companies will deny the claim the first time in hopes that the homeowner won't appeal. In fact, he also said that he had already been on two reinspections this morning.

So, we haven't given up hope yet! We'll wait to see what the new report says.

 

[fiveforall]

Don't give up. Years ago, we had hail damage. All of our neighbors were getting new roofs, but our adjuster said our roof looked fine. Well, the next big rainstorm came and the ceiling in our daughter's room caved in! Needless to say, we brought a new adjuster out (asked to not send the original adjuster) and they then had to pay for a new roof, new ceiling, and damage to our daughter's room. We have since switched insurance companies. Good luck to you. I know it's a very frustrating process!

 

[HsvTeacher]

Well, we just got off the phone with our insurance company. Even though their letter said our claim was closed, the insurance agent said that the first claim denial was just a preliminary report. (Yeah right! )

The insurance company is sending out a different adjuster (not Mr. Useless) to meet with our roofer. We called our roofer to tell him, and he told us that most insurance companies will deny the claim the first time in hopes that the homeowner won't appeal. In fact, he also said that he had already been on two reinspections this morning.

So, we haven't given up hope yet! We'll wait to see what the new report says.

We heard back from our insurance company, and the second adjuster found lots of hail damage. We found out today that we WILL be getting a new roof!

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

Congrats! I'm happy for you. I am sure enjoying my nice, new roof and I bet you will too.

 

[rileyroosmom]

I just went through this also. Had a hail storm last year, all my neighbors got roofs. I've had the adjuster here 2 times, denied both times. Had a rainstorm in July that led to damage to my sons ceiling. Had the adjuster again with my roof contractor, still denied!!!! Said there was no storm damage, just poor quality of the roof. I did get about $2300 to repair the ceiling and I have to pay $6100 out of pocket for a roof.

I have Allstate which I've heard is one of the toughest to pay out claims.

Good luck to you, I don't have any advice other than to try again.

 

[tinkarooni]

Good Luck.

 

[ZachnElli]

I'm glad it worked out for you. I think it really depends on the adjuster. We had one roof replaced by State Farm and I didn't know it had damage, I called them about our siding (also replaced). We moved and a few years later I knew I had hail damage to our roof, I could see the holes and State Farm denied it, said it was damaged, but not enough. We fought it and had the roofer and the adjuster out at the same time, still denied. Every shingle they stepped on broke and had to be replaced, so they gave us a check for the shingles they stepped on!! Ridiculous!

 

[shortbun]

'Hail damage' is one of the most abused insurance claims. About 3 years ago, my neighborhood experienced a hail storm. Within 24 hours, truckloads of guys from out of town were crawling our streets and offering to help us all get new roofs. Our roof was not damaged-my husband was up there BUT 4 of our neighbors got their roofs replaced by these gypsy companies. This is one of the biggest contributors to the higher prices you all pay in premiums. Not saying you don't have hail damage, just saying the insurance companies are getting hip to the fraud of years past and being extra diligent. I don't blame them.

 

[HsvTeacher]

'Hail damage' is one of the most abused insurance claims. About 3 years ago, my neighborhood experienced a hail storm. Within 24 hours, truckloads of guys from out of town were crawling our streets and offering to help us all get new roofs. Our roof was not damaged-my husband was up there BUT 4 of our neighbors got their roofs replaced by these gypsy companies. This is one of the biggest contributors to the higher prices you all pay in premiums. Not saying you don't have hail damage, just saying the insurance companies are getting hip to the fraud of years past and being extra diligent. I don't blame them.

While I understand that it's wrong for a homeowner to fraudulently file a claim, I also think it's wrong for an insurance company not to fulfill its end of a contract. My DH had inspected our roof, and we had shingles that were pulled up and/or bent from high wind and heavy hail. It was even obvious from the road.

The first adjuster looked at the roof from a ladder and never climbed onto the roof at all. To my knowledge, he never went around to the back of the house, which is the part that bears the brunt of most storms we have. When the second adjuster came out, he circled the damage on a square (like they're supposed to do...) and took a ton of pictures. Of course, the second time around, our claim was approved after the first was denied. If the insurance company would have sent a competent adjuster the first time, we could have saved a month's worth of time and already had our roof repaired.

 

[daisy2jae]

We got a new roof!!! I called the insurance company and asked for the manager. He came down and looked at our roof. Of course he found damage as we already knew we had. He claimed you couldn't see it before and now the damage has shown. We ended up hiring a roof company. We paid them our $500 deduc....They went after the insurnace to get the rest of the issues paid for....gutters, deck boards, etc...The roof is done and now the rest of the things are suppose to be fixed in the next 30 days. Finally....plus no more insurance calls and dealing with pains!