Hail Damage Claim For Your Roof

Hail damages residential properties and disrupts many aspects of your daily life, including your outdoor belongings, car, or even a brand-new roof. 

Such events can leave the owners to deal with the aftermath and the financial burden that comes along with them. However, people who have house insurance coverage can be relatively at ease.

Your homeowner insurance covers damages from natural events like fire, wind, hail, etc. Nevertheless, the coverage may still change based on what you select to have covered by your insurance. 

In this article, you will discover whether or not homeowner insurance covers hail damage costs for the roof.

What Does Hail Damage Look Like On A Roof?

Before making an insurance claim for your hail-damaged roof, you must ensure that your roof is actually “hail-damaged”. 

Here is what the insurance adjusters look for in your roof during the roof inspection for insurance.

Dented Spots

If you notice small round pockets in your shingles, there’s a good chance that hail will damage your roof. After a hailstorm, your metal roof may have numerous dents on it. In the same way, you can see patterns in your downspouts and gutters. 

The sound of rain on a damaged metal roof sounds louder than that of a roof with no dents or cracks.

Cracks 

After a hailstorm, you might notice visible cracks in your concrete or clay tile roof. Similarly, if your shingles have been hit by hail after aging sufficiently, they may tear and crack.

Additional cues could be areas of your roof that have gotten softer; this happens more frequently with wooden shingles as they absorb the impact of hail. 

Likewise, hail can remove your roof’s covering material, so you know what to do if you see any exposed areas.

Many people mistakenly consider blisters to result from hail on the roof. But they are something else. 

Blisters develop when moisture from the sun or the attic is trapped, vaporizes, and heats up between the roof’s layers. Usually, a close and professional inspection is needed to recognize blisters.

Is Hail Damage Covered By Insurance?

Yes, the standard homeowner’s insurance policy, including the dwelling’s coverage, covers the hail damage cost. Hail damage to your roof is mainly included in the dwellings coverage. 

If you don’t have your dwelling covered in the policy, the insurance will not cover the hail damage to your roof.

The coverage, however, also depends on the state where your insurance company is located; for instance, some companies in coastal areas exclude wind and hail damage from their coverage policy.

Does my home insurance cover roof damage caused by a hurricane?

Yes, hurricane damage to the roof is one of the wide range of perils covered by the homeowner’s insurance. 

If you think your roof has hail damage, you should file an insurance claim because this is the reason you pay your premiums.  

Insurance Claim Process For Hail Damage To The Roof

So, how does the hail damage roof insurance claim process work?

Once you are confident that there has been hail damage to your roof, you should contact your insurance provider to make a claim. 

Once that is finished, an adjuster will be sent to your home to examine your roof and assess your eligibility for the claim.

You will be compensated for any damage to your roof if your application is accepted. Depending on your insurance policy, you will receive a check for your roof’s Actual Cash Value or Replacement Cost Value. 

What’s ACV and RCV?

ACV or Actual Cash Value is the replacement cost of a roof excluding its depreciation value.  Simply, its the value of your roof at the time of damage, i.e., its current market value. 

RCV or Replacement Cost Value is simply the amount required to replace your roof. 

Follow the steps below to file a roof damage insurance claim:

Have A Solid Record

With time, the damage from the hail might evolve due to exposure to other environmental factors. similar to how a corrugated metal roof gutter may degrade.

This is why it is essential to document the damage thoroughly and keep a record. How to do that? Use your phone.

Take pictures or make a video recording of everything you can later show to your insurance company. 

Go Through Your Insurance Policy

This is the most critical step you should take before filing a claim. 

Reviewing your policy lets you become aware of coverage limits, deductibles, and other things included and excluded. 

For instance, you do not want to file a claim for wind damage if it’s included in your policy. 

Ask Your Insurance Company For The Claim Form

After going through your policy, it’s time to call your insurance company and request the claim form. 

Also, remember to provide them with the initial description of how the damage looks.

You will be sent with an insurance adjuster who will perform the inspection.

Find A Well Known Contractor

If your claim gets approved, look for a good roofing contractor to start the repair work.

Usually, many contractors operate without any license, but it’s best to find someone licensed.

Be Patient

It might get noisy and lengthy during the repair or reroofing process if the weather conditions are bad enough. 

This means you must cooperate and be more patient for the process to finish smoothly and calmly. 

How Much Does Insurance Pay For Hail Damage On Average?

We can not guess the exact amount needed to repair your damaged roof, but the average amount is $12,000.

According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), about 5.3 percent of insured homes had a claim in 2021.

The following chart shows the homeowners’ insurance losses from weather-related events between 2019 and 2021.

( Claim frequency= Number of claims made per hundred policies.    /   Claim severity = Amount paid for each claim.)

Hail Damage Claim For Your Roof FAQs

Conclusion

To wrap it up, it is always best to file an insurance claim if natural events like tornadoes, hail storms or windstorms hit you. 

To file a claim, you should record and keep evidence, file a claim through your insurance agency, coordinate with the adjuster, and find a licensed contractor to begin the work. 

That’s it; I hope our article was of help to you.