Teams
Forum List
Toggle sidebar

Derecho Claims and Information

keepngoal

keepngoal

OKA: keepingoal
Bookie
Jun 20, 2006
39,611
25,179
113
I thought a thread about what/how people are claiming from the derecho earlier this month, could help those filing claims. For instance; what to ask for, what to expect, what not to expect, insurance norms.

For us we have four roofs that will to be replaced, and a car with a claim.

For me the roof repairs are pretty straight forward. I think we will upgrade two to steel (allowed, right?)

What I haven't figured out is the soft reimbursements or asks during the claim process.

We ran our RV generator for 254 hours to power the houses and kept them from incurring additional damage. We calculated the hard cost of running the unit (gas, oil, filters), but what should the wear and tear allowance on something like that be?

We spent hours fixing the roof for temporary use and clearing off paths to the back part of our property (inaccessible after the storm). What is that time worth? What do you ask for, or should expect?

-keep
 
I have State farm and they gave a letter in regards upgrading your roof and list of the brand names and types that you can upgrade to, to help lower your premiums.

My neighbor paid for the gas for the generator since I helped power his house. Don't know about the wear and tear portion.

My adjuster asked me how long we spent cleaning up. When I got the estimate nothing was ever written out on it so I have to get back with my claim rep on that along with when the estimator asked about temporary fixes to our roof to make sure we turn that in also. Funny thing is I will probably go with someone else reroof our house even though the company that did the temp fix put down $500 for it on the estimate. I asked one of my friends and thought that was pretty much in line for the charge. I have 4 holes the size of soccer balls on my roof and they were there about 2 hours afterwards. I did not have any interior water damage so I guess it was worth it.

My estimate came back and they didn't even put anything down for the broken rafters. The guy just said I had a few soft spots on my roof. I crawled in attic this morning as it was cool and found out I have 4 broken rafters and additional sheeting damage that was not on the estimate they gave me.

In regards to the soft reimbursements they told me to keep the receipts and turn them into my insurance company. I have ice, fuel, saw blades, etc receipts I am keeping.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: keepngoal
We only lost power for six hours, so we don't have any "soft" expenses spoiled food, fuel, or generator wear & tear. The house and garagemahal escaped damage of any sort (a couple of smaller branches are broken and hanging over them and need to be removed, but the shingles & siding are fine.

A tree fell on our elderly outbuilding (a dirt floor, two story stable used for a mini horse by previous owners) and they are covering removing that tree and repairs to the building. Frankly, it's not really worth fixing...he just stored extra lumber in it, and there are holes dug in the floor by coons & foxes.

What insurance will not cover is dropping a handful of widowmakers. We live on 3 acres of woods, and a few of the mature trees are damaged in a manner that will make them slab off without warning at some point in the future. They're away from the house, but kids on the lane play down there by the creek, so their unpredictable nature is a concern. :(
 
  • Friendly
Reactions: NWICY
Friend of mine had $12k worth of trees craned out, hoping insurance will cover $3-$4k of it.
 
ImJustKCClone said:
We only lost power for six hours, so we don't have any "soft" expenses spoiled food, fuel, or generator wear & tear. The house and garagemahal escaped damage of any sort (a couple of smaller branches are broken and hanging over them and need to be removed, but the shingles & siding are fine.

A tree fell on our elderly outbuilding (a dirt floor, two story stable used for a mini horse by previous owners) and they are covering removing that tree and repairs to the building. Frankly, it's not really worth fixing...he just stored extra lumber in it, and there are holes dug in the floor by coons & foxes.

What insurance will not cover is dropping a handful of widowmakers. We live on 3 acres of woods, and a few of the mature trees are damaged in a manner that will make them slab off without warning at some point in the future. They're away from the house, but kids on the lane play down there by the creek, so their unpredictable nature is a concern. :(
Click to expand...

Got a 20' one hanging about 40' down. Thing is about 8-12" in diameter. Have a tree company either going to remove it or will get quote to remove the whole tree. That's the bad thing about insurance. Wonder if it just falls due to a wind storm and damages something if they will consider it an "act of god". I mean is was an "act of god" when it broke off in the first place. But wait... only if it falls on your house will they take care of it.
 
Well our roof was replaced after the hail storm back in April so thankfully we don't have to deal with that again. Main damage was done to fencing, playset and the big one..Air Conditioner. Although they are fighting the a/c damage as they are confused what the difference is between the damage claimed back in April on it (cosmetic plastic broken) and this time it was rotated, dented and the line to the house was damaged. So that is ongoing.

I did bring up the cost of generator fuel etc. and Progressives response was that since it was widespread they wouldn't cover it. May end up fighting that as well. Forgot to ask about the time spent cleaning up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: keepngoal
wxman1 said:
Well our roof was replaced after the hail storm back in April so thankfully we don't have to deal with that again. Main damage was done to fencing, playset and the big one..Air Conditioner. Although they are fighting the a/c damage as they are confused what the difference is between the damage claimed back in April on it (cosmetic plastic broken) and this time it was rotated, dented and the line to the house was damaged. So that is ongoing.

I did bring up the cost of generator fuel etc. and Progressives response was that since it was widespread they wouldn't cover it. May end up fighting that as well. Forgot to ask about the time spent cleaning up.
Click to expand...

We have ASI/Progressive too for our auto/home. We had a small tree fall on the corner of our garage and shingles broken off the garage roof. They just paid for the cost of the repairs of the missing shingles on our roof, they wouldn't give more because the shingles on the garage were too old and there weren't enough missing (8 broken off shingles). They paid us ~$500 for time and material to clean up and move the tree off of the garage.
 
  • Like
Reactions: keepngoal
wxman1 said:
Well our roof was replaced after the hail storm back in April so thankfully we don't have to deal with that again. Main damage was done to fencing, playset and the big one..Air Conditioner. Although they are fighting the a/c damage as they are confused what the difference is between the damage claimed back in April on it (cosmetic plastic broken) and this time it was rotated, dented and the line to the house was damaged. So that is ongoing.

I did bring up the cost of generator fuel etc. and Progressives response was that since it was widespread they wouldn't cover it. May end up fighting that as well. Forgot to ask about the time spent cleaning up.
Click to expand...
Did the generator provide service to reduce the items you could claim? Sump pump, food, dehumidify. Those seems like no brainers.
 
Just heard I'll get my roof replaced but the insurance and contractor are a little apart in figures. Hoping to have them talk and figure it out.

Also am only being offered $900 for a swingset (probably 3 years old and we have stained it/kept it in good condition) we paid over $1500 for. Anyone else dealing with that? Plus I'll have to pay to have someone haul the old swingset away.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: keepngoal
Our State Farm adjuster isn't here until Friday. We have no noticeable roof damage that we've seen, and just a little siding damage (I'm curious what they'll cover). Other than that they've said they'll pay for our effort for getting the tree off the driveway - but only the one blocking the driveway (which fell on another huge oak, so it's a big of a laugh guessing how much time was spent on each).

And then we had a fence blown over - what are people's experience with fences? I haven't heard whether it'll be covered or not.

The only other claim (than food, etc) is the tree cracked my driveway when it fell on it, so that'll be interesting as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: keepngoal
bawbie said:
Our State Farm adjuster isn't here until Friday. We have no noticeable roof damage that we've seen, and just a little siding damage (I'm curious what they'll cover). Other than that they've said they'll pay for our effort for getting the tree off the driveway - but only the one blocking the driveway (which fell on another huge oak, so it's a big of a laugh guessing how much time was spent on each).

And then we had a fence blown over - what are people's experience with fences? I haven't heard whether it'll be covered or not.

The only other claim (than food, etc) is the tree cracked my driveway when it fell on it, so that'll be interesting as well.
Click to expand...

I don't have any experience in knowing whether or not they will cover that, but I would try to push hard for it. The crack will only get worse and cement work is terribly expensive. It may help if you can find a recent photo that would show the driveway wasn't cracked prior to the storm?
 
  • Like
Reactions: bawbie
farminclone said:
I don't have any experience in knowing whether or not they will cover that, but I would try to push hard for it. The crack will only get worse and cement work is terribly expensive. It may help if you can find a recent photo that would show the driveway wasn't cracked prior to the storm?
Click to expand...

good idea, I'll see if I can find that, but I think it's obvious, it's more "dented" in a 3" semi-circle than cracked. I've never gone through this before so I have no idea what they'll push back on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: keepngoal
We had about $140,000 in damages. State Farm has been really pretty easy to work with. The hardest part to date was finding a house to rent while our house gets repaired. So far, they really haven't balked at any of our expenses, including the fridge that had spoiled food in it for 2 weeks.
 
  • Friendly
Reactions: SaraV, wxman1, VeloClone and 5 others
I'm embarrassed talking about our minor damages when looking at what has happened to so many other people. This has not been a good year for SO many reasons. :(
 
Homeowner's policies cover your home itself and your personal belongings. A tree falling in your yard that does not damage your home or personal property is generally going to be on you. You can buy an endorsement to cover debris removal but it's usually limited.

As for generators and the like, your homeowner's policy contractually obligates you to take whatever measures necessary to prevent further damage, which could include owning and operating a generator. Likely will not be covered.
 
We had a portion of a tree fall on the house putting a hole through the upper level. The portion of the tree that fell was still connected to the trunk which they had to saw off prior to removing with a crane. I know most insurance companies only cover damage to the home but there is not much salvageable tree left. Since it was still connected to the tree and fallen on my roof at the same time any chance insurance would cover removal for the rest of the tree?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Help Support Us

Become a patron
Top Bottom