Insurance terminology is a whole other language by itself. If you don’t understand this language you may well not get all the value from your insurance settlement.
There are two kinds of Insurance policies, RCV or Replacement Cost Value and ACV or Actual Cash Value. Nearly all homeowners with asphalt shingles have a Replacement Cost Value policy, which means if hail hits you your insurance company replaces the roof with like and kind materials. More and more shake roof policies are being switched to Actual Cash Value today. If you have a shake roof and you’re holding out for a hailstorm to buy you a new roof, this strategy may not work anymore! Check with your insurance company to verify which kind of policy you now have, ACV or RCV. See if your deductable has been changed as well, and be sure to read the ”we’ve changed your policy” notices your insurance company sends you periodically.
With an Actual Cash Value policy your insurance company subtracts the depreciation from age and wear and then subtracts the deductable too. The remaining amount of money is all you have to work with, meaning with an old worn out shake roof you don’t have any replacement coverage any more if hail hits you! In fairness to the insurance companies, all the old shake roofs replaced in the big 1990 hailstorm are worn out now. The homeowners have received the full life of service from these old shake roofs, but most asphalt shingle roofs last up to sixty years today and there are many Class 4 Impact Resistant Shingles available to choose from. Class 4 Impact Resistant (UL 2218) Shingles will eventually be required here, for good reasons.
With the Replacement Cost Value policy that covers most asphalt shingles and still covers many shake roofs; your insurance company establishes a budget based on the usual and customary amount it actually costs to have your roof “replaced” under the current market conditions. With a Replacement Cost Value policy there is no such thing as depreciation, its just potential funds your insurance company is holding back until you spend it. Some insurance companies call these hold back funds recoverable depreciation. If you don’t utilize their entire allowable budget, they don’t give it to you. You don’t get to keep the difference! So there is no advantage to you, or saving money, in getting a lower bid… The most important thing is what will a roofer do for what the insurance allowance is, help with or cover your deductable, give you an up-grade shingle or extra roof vents for instance.
Insurance settlements are fundamentally different than getting bids on the open market. If you get a lower bid on the open market then you possibly saved some money. I say possibly because there are differences in the quality of materials, labor, warranty and user friendliness of contractors. You might get a lower bid and get exactly what you paid for too! With insurance settlements if you get a bid lower than the Replacement Cost Value you’re probably getting less value than you could if you had utilized the whole RCV budget.
It’s not the least bit unusual to do work for what the insurance allowance is. If you go to a doctor, they do the work for what the insurance allowance is and you pay your co-pay. If you go to an auto body shop, they do the work for what the insurance allowance is and you pay your deductable. American Family Insurance says “present a copy of your insurance settlement papers to your contractor, in most cases they will work from this estimate.” This is the way we can give you the best value. We will translate the insurance settlement statement for you and make you a formal written offer with no pressure or obligation.
Some insurance companies are a little more generous about making a borderline claim in your favor and allowing a little more budget to have the work done than others though. Of the major insurers in our market you are in good shape with American Family, Amica, Chubb, Liberty Mutual, State Farm and USAA. In all fairness to insurance companies, most roofs we see in here in Colorado have at least some minor hail damage on them! You may well have a little hail damage on your roof and at the same time not need a new roof. This is your insurance company’s call.
There is no need to have a roofer meet with an insurance adjuster to make sure that they do their job properly. Occasionally this might be necessary later on but not as the first step or as the usual and customary way of doing business here in Colorado. Most insurance companies do a competent, professional job of evaluating hail damage and giving you enough of a budget to have the work done.
If you think your roof has been hit by damaging hail, be patient, watch and wait and if it looks like the neighbors are all getting roofs, then call your insurance company to check for you or call a local well-established roofer NOT the “traveler” who is knocking on your door or the "gypsies" hanging around the neighborhood who corner you when you go outside, who wants you to lock you into a contingency agreement before you even know what you are getting your self into… Many insurance companies today will raise your rates or drop you if you file too many claims. Save it for when you really do have a claim. It’s the insurance company’s job to check for hail damage. Storm chasers don’t care if you don't really need a new roof, or if your rates are raised and sure enough they will find some hail damage!
There is no urgency. Roofs don’t typically leak when hit by the size of hail our market usually gets. Shingle roofs are a two and a half ply system with a watertight underlayment that has had some exterior surface damage. You have a year or two to get the work done. Wait until spring next year, after the storm chasers have gone and it's safe to go outside again. Today’s thicker asphalt shingles thermal seal at much lower temperatures and perform pretty flawlessly in the wind so there is no need to just do this work in the summer. Call us from late winter thru early spring. This is the best time of year to get the best service/price/value from us well-established local roofers, not when we are super busy. Help support the locals who are committed to our market and help your self too!
In any event we can usually give you at least a $500 Advertising Discount, and on larger roofs up to $1,000 Advertising Discount for a complete new roof due to hail damage. Once you have purchased a roof from us, we pledge to take care of all your roofing needs if you move or are hit by hail again.
