You may have selected your home insurance provider based on low rates, but what about rating your insurer on service? After a major storm, shingle roof repair work may be needed but your insurance company may be unresponsive. After a storm is exactly the wrong time to find that out.
Protection
A great insurance company will not only be immediately responsive to your needs, it will protect you from unethical third party vendors. A recent article in Florida’s Sun Sentinel warns about this very problem. A high-quality roofing contractor will not compel a homeowner to sign an “assignment of benefits” form, but a not-so-great insurance company may not bother to warn homeowners against the practice. This means an unethical roofer (combined with a weak insurer) can leave a homeowner responsible for thousands in roofing costs for shingle roof repair the insurer does not agree to pay.
Run-Around
Filing a claim for storm damage must be done as quickly as possible after you ensure your family and pets are safe. The last thing you need is to get a run-around from a poor insurer that transfers you from one office to another to another to somebody’s voicemail.
What you need, and what you should expect, is an actual person on the toll-free claims hotline. You need to be able to get the name of an adjuster who will be dispatched as soon as possible to your home. You need to know to what extent your policy will cover shingle roof repair, sheathing replacement or new water shield.
Local Presence
Your call to your insurer should not send you to a distant call center. Any response should be local, from the adjuster to the insurer’s preferred contractor. If you are told you have to wait for the adjuster to drive in from out of state, you have (unfortunately) a not-so-great (and cheap!) insurer.
When searching for a quality home insurance company, ask tough questions well before you face storm damage. That way, your shingle roof repair is just a minor inconvenience instead of a life-changing ordeal.
Yellowhammer Roofing has years of experience working with insurance companies. While we prefer to work with great insurers, we also know how to navigate around and through not-so-great companies. Contact us today to learn how we can help get you through the next storm, make necessary shingle roof repair and smooth out the insurance claim process.
