Renewing or Not Renewing Homeowners Insurance with an Active Claim

May 14, 2025, 03:14 PM

Invoke appraisal.

There are good PAs out there, but most are the industry equivalent to ambulance chasers and state laws can really impact their capabilities. I’d venture to guess that most claims that have a PA working on them get thrown to the bottom of the stack for the adjuster.

May 14, 2025, 03:20 PM

Powers77

quote:
Originally posted by tatortodd:
quote:
Originally posted by Powers77:
How old is the roof and what was its condition prior to the storm?
Is it as simple as them backing out your deductible and the useful life left on the roof?
It was 7.9 years old and had 20 year shingles. It was in very good condition before the hail storm. No, it's not as simple as backing out the deductible. Their $700 estimate is a joke and $350 of it was fence damage I didn't claim.

Understood. I worked for a large carrier in another capacity. Not claims. Also handled a storm damage claim for my elderly parents after Hurricane Ian. I was expecting a nightmare on that one but the independent adjuster was fair. The PITA was actually getting someone competent to do the work.
Just spit balling but I would be looking for something in the $20k range from them based on the facts you provided.
Estimates of $30k and about 2/3 of the useful life left.

May 14, 2025, 03:34 PM

Shaql

I fired State Farm for this very reason in around 2009. Had a hail storm move through our area. Every neighbor in our cul-de-sac was having their roof replaced. State Farm said no. Asked them to come again. They said no again. Went to my agent and he said not to appeal because then my rates would go up. I asked him to come look at my roof. At my neighbors roofs. He declined to leave his office. I Appealed. They said no again.

Called my agent the following week and moved all my policies. When he asked why I told him I've paid a premium for State Farm for over 15 years and no claims until this roof. Called him out specifically for his lack of support. He said "I can't blame you".

Me: *Click.*

May 14, 2025, 06:44 PM

tatortodd

quote:
Originally posted by HRK:
We had the same issue here, every roof in the neighborhood was replaced, except the ones who were insured with one carrier, I think it was State Farm.

State Farms investigator was brought in from Oklahoma, where hail is the size of baseballs, he denied several homes claims possibly because hail here doesn't typically get that large and he was looking for bigger damage, or, he was just denying claims in the hopes that people wouldn't fight it... Most don't.

Even with digital images of the roof, physical inspections with several roofers and independent adjustors (same as you) HO keep denying the claim.

It finally came down to suing the carrier, and my neighbor is just the guy to do it, and he hired a good attorney.

And they fought tooth and nail to deny the claim, so have your documents ready, record everything you can, and write down everything, dates, time, who was involved.

In the end he won, the insurance company ended up paying for the roof, his attorney fees and their attorney fees, it cost them $100K to fix a $30 K roof.

Get an attorney and get all your stuff together and expect to go to war...

Oh and he was advised to stay with them for coverage during the process, the minute the claim was finalized and the roof paid for he dropped them. like you 30 years with them..

Thx. Very helpful especially the last paragraph.

May 14, 2025, 06:56 PM

tatortodd

Interesting development:
My illustrious insurer's steep roof specialty inspector contacted me today to schedule coming back out to do another inspection of my roof. Perhaps, they realize I'm a stubborn son of a bitch and hiring a public adjuster is a sign that I'm not going away quietly.

May 14, 2025, 08:23 PM

sunburn

State Farm may be hoping you go to another insurance company as they no longer write a replacement value policy and dont want the liability of a large payout.

May 15, 2025, 04:24 PM

TXLe

If they continue to be slow and difficult, do not hesitate to contact Texas Department of Insurance. I was having difficulty with getting prompt responses dealing with an accident. This was the recommendation of an insurance agent family friend. In Texas, this is the last thing any insurance company wants to deal with. She stated, "insurance are expected to make you whole for your loses in a reasonable amount of time. Not returning phone calls or slow responses are not acceptable." It was amazing a voicemail detailing previously unreturned phone calls and an expectation of a returned phone call by the end of business day; otherwise, a complaint to TDI would be made the following day. I received a phone call within the hour from a manager and the previous agent was replaced.

May 15, 2025, 06:45 PM

tigereye313

I'm in the middle of a claim as well, and am not too far north of you. Will let you know how it plays out.

May 15, 2025, 08:26 PM

HRK

As much as I can't stand these guys, they get results, HQ here in O-Town, John Morgan has made a massive amount of money in the civil tort business.

They are so big insurance carriers cant bully them over costs to litigate.

They own roofclaim.com, partnered with roofing companies, sponsored an NCAA bowl.

You may not like him personally but, he gets results and they do cases on a pct.

If they win your insurer will pay their fees, like my friend the fees combined were double the cost of the roof in 5 figures.

https://www.forthepeople.com/o...tions/texas/houston/

remember, it's for the people

May 22, 2025, 10:26 PM

tigereye313

Update on ours. Insurance adjustor walked our roof with our roofer and actually agreed that hail damage is present and stated they will be approving our claim. Surprisingly he thought it was from an earlier storm than last may (one of the ones we tried to file a claim for previously and had been denied

).

They said 7-10 days for paperwork, will post again once that comes through.