I have received notice that my homeowners insurance will not renew if I do not replace my roof since it will hit 20 years in new contract period (2005 original roof) and I have a depreciation/age policy.
2 of the companies I got roof quotes from found hail damage and said I could make a claim. My question is this:
If I am being quoted $15k to replace + I will still be on hook for $2,500 deductible, and I already have the forced replacement mandate through insurance … is it worth making a claim/going through that process? Or in the end will I only save minimal $ and by making a claim would my policy premium go up in renewal?
Also does anyone know if there is a general premium difference/discount between a class 3 and class 4 shingle?
Thank you in advance for any insights.
Posted by thniks
3 Comments
If a company can get you a roof under a claim then you go that route. If you choose to just replace yourself then you just saved the insurance money.
Is your policy RCV or ACV?
Roofers talk a lot of fluff quite often. I’d get a second opinion before filing that claim – adjusters know hail damage from wear and tear, and it’s suck to file a claim on a 20 yr old roof with the risk of having a 0 dollar pay out on your record. Also, there are often mandatory reporting time frames for hail damage, so if it’s not recent and you file a roof claim after your company already notified you they’re aware of the condition of your roof, I’d bet that claim will get denied. The honest thing to do here is just rise to the responsibility of being a homeowner and manage the upkeep on your home. Claims like this are a part of the reason premiums are going through the roof.
You have an ACV policy with a 20 year old roof do not file a claim. Also, it’s understandable as to why they are non-renewing you for it. It’s not that they don’t want your business, it’s that there is nothing to cover in terms of the roof’s age. The product has reached the end of its life.
Don’t ever listen to roofers as they will always lie to you by telling you that you have hail damage when you really don’t. Ask them to show you several pictures of what they are talking about. If they didn’t even create the grids to count all the hail markings, you are being lied to.
What happens is people would file a claim based on their lie, then be disappointed by no pay out because you really didn’t have actual hail damage in the first place, then everyone thinks that the insurance company just doesn’t want to pay, blah blah blah, it’s the same story every single time.
Most people these days are professional victims and always take the side of the roofer even if they are clearly being lied to by the roofers, but at the end of the day: no damage = nothing to coverage.
Being an ACV policy, even if there was hail damage, the payout amount would still be zero because the roof is basically depreciated 100% at 20 years old.
I highly recommend you do not get a hail resistant roof. If hail is large enough (solid golf ball size or bigger), there’s really no roof that’s going survive. In fact, having a hail resistant roof will only make it more difficult to be covered in the future.
Yes, you would save a few hundred dollars per year from having a class 4 roof, but again it’s really not worth it.