Hail Damage to Roof and Insurance Claim process

Understanding hail damage serves an important purpose towards insurance claims and the process it involves. Most of the times the insurance companies try to play around the fact that there was no substantial evidence or "funcuntional damage" to prove hail damage and will deny replacement of your roof.

What is Hail Damage?

Hail is actually frozen water droplets that eventually grow in size as it falls towards earth. They can have devastating impact on your roof by damaging it. The damage gradient also depends on what kind of roof you have?

• Asphalt shingles
• Wooden roofs
• Metal roofs
• Flat roofs

Asphalt shingles is made of 3 components, a fiberglass mat or cardboard, asphalt coating and granule covering. When the “Hail” hits the roof shingles, it damages the granule that exposes the mat to UV. If the mat is left exposed to UV it dries out quickly and dramatically reduces the roof shingles life expectancy.

How to Make an Insurance Claim for Hail Damage?

Insurance providers try to make all the plays in and off the book to negate Insurance towards hail damage often citing obnoxious reasons. Here are the steps you can follow to get the claim amount you deserve.

• Assess the Damage

If you have had hail storms in your area then closely inspect and check your roof for damages. Get hold of an experienced Public Adjuster or licensed contractor to determine if the shingles have been damaged and need to be replaced.

• Make an insurance claim as soon as possible.

We often don’t observer immediate impact and rule out any significance hail damage to roof. But may be after a week or two the roof start to leak and you observe damages to your roof shingles. The insurance companies rules out the claim citing factors like “Delay” and “Loss of Time”. Make sure you make an immediate assessment of your roof after hail storms and file an insurance claim if necessary.

Hire a Professional Public Insurance Adjuster

When you make a claim, the adjuster who comes out first is from the insurance company and they job is to expedite the process and try to minimize and portray the least property damage possible or also say “No Damage”.

Hiring a licensed and professional Public Insurance Adjuster who works for you(the policyholder). They have expertise in analyzing the roofing problems caused by hail damage and work from start to finish and provide you with all the support and file the necessary claims on your behalf.

Utilize the services of Miller Public Adjusters who are one of the best in the business to provide your professional support.

How Insurance Companies Avoid Claim Settlements

• Evidence

They often cite evidence as one of the most prominent reasons to reject claims. If the damage is not properly inspected and not clearly evident then there are chances of rejecting the claims.

• Insurance company depreciating your roof

This is another common practice employed by insurance companies to reduce the claim settlements. They take into consideration of factors like, “How old is the roof”, “What was the Hail storm Impact”, “How much considerable damage has taken place”. They can depreciate from 10% to as much as 50% and often these rates go high depending on how old your roof is.

• Actual Cash/Replacement Cost Value

This is also a popular term used by insurance companies. The amount they provide would be the cost to replace or repair your old roof minus the depreciation value, hence further lessening the claim settlement. Under a replacement cost value policy, no matter what the age of the roof or items that are damaged, once the work is completed you are entitled to 100% of the total claim.

It is often a tricky process to negotiate and win a “Hail Damage” insurance claim and suggested to use professional and Licensed Public Adjuster help in winning your claim.