What You Need To Know About Insurance Claim Costs
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What You Need To Know About Insurance Claim Costs

Most homeowners don’t read all the print in their homeowners insurance policy. It is not all fine print, but even the reasonably sized wording is easy to ignore. Yet your policy spells out important information you need to know when making a roofing insurance claim.

Deductible

All homeowners insurance policies have deductibles, selected by you, the homeowner. Insurers do not want to add the costs of small claims to their claims process, so they expect you to cover expenses up to a selected amount, like $500, $1,000, or higher. That deductible means you pay the cost of repairs up to that amount. Then the insurer pays the rest of the claim.

Say a tree branch hits a glancing blow to your roof, damaging a small patch of fiberglass-asphalt shingles. You contact your friendly, reliable roofer and get a quote of $450 for an afternoon’s work of one roofing technician to remove the old shingles and replace them with new ones. With a $500 deductible, you do not even need to file a claim.

This does mean you should have the deductible saved, ready to be used if needed. Say the damage is $800 with a $500 deductible. Your insurer will only cut a check for $300, leaving you to pay for the rest. If you do not have the funds readily available, the damage could worsen but you cannot make another claim.

Coverage

Read your policy very carefully to know exactly what is covered in a claim. Will your insurer pay for full roof replacement? What is excluded? What if water damage has affected the rafters or other parts of your home? Can that be part of the same claim? If in doubt, chat with your insurance agent to get a clear picture of what your policy will pay for.

Partner

Partner with a local, efficient roofer well before any storms or worries about insurance claims. Yearly inspections and maintenance are a good way to start because your roofer will have a baseline assessment of your roof’s condition.

Then, when damage strikes, your roofer is in a good position to provide a realistic estimate to your insurance company on the costs of roof repair or replacement. Having that estimate in hand when calling your insurer can speed up the claims process.  

For emergency roof repair, please contact us at Yellowhammer Roofing. For everything from an insurance claim to full roof replacement, we are here for you.

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