Home Insurance Claims Questions

[InCyder]

CFers,
Wondering if anyone has ever dealt with hail insurance claims. This last round of storms produced some pretty good hail here in Eastern Iowa and expecting maybe some additional potent storms tonight. I haven't gone out to look at the siding and roof, but anticipate some issues. Has anyone ever dealt with this before? Do I just go ahead and contact my insurance agent Monday and have them send out an adjuster? or do I need to climb my happy *** up on the roof and take pictures or hire a contractor to come get an estimate of the damages. What is the best route to go?

Thanks in Advance

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

CFers,
Wondering if anyone has ever dealt with hail insurance claims. This last round of storms produced some pretty good hail here in Eastern Iowa and expecting maybe some additional potent storms tonight. I haven't gone out to look at the siding and roof, but anticipate some issues. Has anyone ever dealt with this before? Do I just go ahead and contact my insurance agent Monday and have them send out an adjuster? or do I need to climb my happy *** up on the roof and take pictures or hire a contractor to come get an estimate of the damages. What is the best route to go?

Thanks in Advance

I had hail damage on my car (I know it's not the same) and they had me go in to a specific shop to get it estimated/fixed. I would call and see if they have certain people they want for the job and will cover etc.

 

[CyStalker]

Call your agent, they will send someone out to assess any damage you may have. We had a significant amount of hail and wind/tornado damage years ago where there was very obvious damage, but some neighbors were told they had no damage whatsoever. You will soon learn how good your insurance company is.....

 

[CascadeClone]

Call your agent first to report it. Agent should put you together on how to go from there. When I got hit a few years back, an adjuster out to inspect and decide how bad it was first, and then we got 3 estimates.

WRT the roofers, get someone local, even if you have to wait. You want their name on the line. Get references, make sure they are insured.

 

[LarryISU]

I have been a claim adjuster for 30 years, don't climb on roofs anymore. But I agree with prior advice, just call your insurance company, most of them have a toll-free claims number, or call your agent and he will report it to them. They will have someone look at your home and other outdoors property (fence, lawn furniture, BBQ grill, hot tub, etc.) to determine what was damaged.

 

[hoiballin33]

I have been a claim adjuster for 30 years, don't climb on roofs anymore. But I agree with prior advice, just call your insurance company, most of them have a toll-free claims number, or call your agent and he will report it to them. They will have someone look at your home and other outdoors property (fence, lawn furniture, BBQ grill, hot tub, etc.) to determine what was damaged.

Serious question: Let's say a tornado completely erases my house. How effed am I and how long is it going to take me to get back in to a house? Do most people rebuild or take the money and run? How does the replacement value of your house get estimated?

 

[NebrClone]

Remember, your agent works for the insurance company. If you do not get a satisfactory answer from the adjuster hire a contractor and have them look at it and get the adjuster out again.

 

[Cyclonesince78]

Serious question: Let's say a tornado completely erases my house. How effed am I and how long is it going to take me to get back in to a house? Do most people rebuild or take the money and run? How does the replacement value of your house get estimated?

Most insurance companies will not insure the "value" of the house, they will insure the cost to replace, which is almost always higher, and can be significant higher than the value of the house. So if something like that were to happen, I would hope you would be cover since your insurance covers the replacement costs of the house. But as the years go on, you should probably get it updated/increased, since costs always go up. If you have a 10 year old insurance policy, you might want to have your agent relook at the numbers.

 

[casey1973]

Most insurance companies will not insure the "value" of the house, they will insure the cost to replace, which is almost always higher, and can be significant higher than the value of the house. So if something like that were to happen, I would hope you would be cover since your insurance covers the replacement costs of the house. But as the years go on, you should probably get it updated/increased, since costs always go up. If you have a 10 year old insurance policy, you might want to have your agent relook at the numbers.

I asked my insurance a few years ago if I need to increase the coverage on the house as far as replacement and he said they update the values routinely to keep up with replacement costs so I don't have to worry about that.

 

[ruxCYtable]

Same thing happened to me a couple years ago. Wasn't even sure if I had any damage but called my agent anyway because all the neighbors were. Estimated damage was $14,000! I was pretty surprised considering I hadn't even noticed any damage yet. So yes, it's worth a call.

My insurance company offered a "no hassle" deal where they'd take care of hiring the contractor and guaranteeing the work. I didn't go that route because I had a friend who's a contractor and I hired him instead, but I know several people who did just use the insurance-suggested contractor and were happy with the work.

 

[jsb]

Serious question: Let's say a tornado completely erases my house. How effed am I and how long is it going to take me to get back in to a house? Do most people rebuild or take the money and run? How does the replacement value of your house get estimated?

not an answer but I know a family who's house was completely destroyed in a tornado in 2000. They rebuilt the same house. 8 or 9 years later it was destroyed again in a tornado. They modified the plans for the third house.

 

[SwirlingFloater]

I would caution you on having a claims adjuster look at things unless you are fairly sure there is damage. We used State Farm for 20+ years and they wouldn't renew us last year due to "too many claims".

It seems even when we had a claims adjuster come out and look at something over the years, it counted against us even if State Farm determined that they weren't going to pay a claim. We never fought them on any instance where they said there wasn't damage, but they still viewed us as having a "propensity for future claims".

I really didn't think we were a squeaky wheel but our history was:

2004 - hail damage claim which State Farm paid
2008 - Different house in different town a tree fell on our house in storm. No damage to the house, but calling out claims adjuster to take a look counted against us.
2012 - Different house in different town a hail storm came through. We had a claims adjuster take a look but they said there wasn't damage which we didn't argue.
2013 - Our home was burglarized and we had a claim for some personal property and a damaged entry door.

This was enough for State Farm to drop us. Really surprised me even when I told our agent we would understand if they increased our premiums instead of having to switch companies. No dice, they wouldn't renew us.