According to the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, hail causes more than $1.6 billion worth of damage in an average year to residential roofs in the United States, making it, year in and year out, one of the most costly natural disasters. Detecting roof hail damage after a hail storm can be a difficult task. Experts say the best things to look at when you are trying to determine the possibility of hail damage are the downspouts, gutters, metal vents, and roofing shingles. If you have not experienced a severe hail storm, it is hard to explain the destruction caused in such a short time. Here are some tips to help handle the experience when it comes to hail-related insurance hail damage claims:
Some roofing contractors may offer to pay your deductible for you instead of the contract to fix your roof on the payment of the insurance company. This practice might be a good sales pitch for the contractor, but for you, it might be bad news because it may make you complicit in insurance fraud along with the contractor. The Principle of Indemnification followed by insurance policies means that a policyholder cannot profit from payment for the policy - and by having the contractor outright pay for the deductible, you might just be doing that. This action can invalidate the policy - so be careful with how you deal with your contractor.
Hail damage insurance claim deductibles and referrals are one way to get your contractor to legitimately pay for some of your hail damage deductibles by referring other clients to the contractor instead of that service. Many contractors have an incentive or bonus of up to $100 for any referral that becomes a job. There are other above-board ways that an experienced and conscientious roofing company can help you with a high deductible. In most cases, all you need do is ask, and you will be presented with several options to deal with your deductible.
Getting an independent Hail Damage Appraisal - The insurance company will send what it calls an adjuster to assess the damage from hail. The adjuster will inspect your house and the roof and come to a total figure that should cover the cost of fixing the damage from hail. Here you should also get an independent appraisal from a roofing contractor. This should ensure against bias from the adjuster and should give a better cover. The contractors usually do the appraisals for free - so along with their payment of deductibles in place of referrals, this is a pretty good service.
Managing your hail damage cover and its deductibles is an important aspect of living with hail storms. With the right information, you can save yourself hundreds of dollars in fees and deductibles, as well as a quality roof replacement due to damage from hail.
