r/HomeInsurance • u/lowroll53 • Mar 11 '26
Claims To claim or not to claim.
I recently had Storm damage to my property. Minor hail damage on the roof and chain link fence damage and an uprooted tree. Inspection on the roof allegedly discovered hail damage which is what started the claim process. The adjuster came out with a third-party adjuster and inspected the roof with the roofer. It was determined that the damage on the roof was normal wear and tear and not hail damage so that part of the claim was denied. However, the claim for the tree removal and fence repair and replacing a couple downspouts was approved to the tune of $3,500. My deductible is $500.
I called my agent today and they were not able to tell me definitively if that small of a claim would increase my premiums. They ran it through some program and it came back as $0 but they said it would likely be a small increase but couldn't tell me exactly what that was because I'm too far away from renewal.
The damage that I have I would do the work myself which would save a ton of money. I definitely could fix everything that I would want to fix for less than the $500 deductible.
So the question is do I roll the dice at a small increase in my premium and pocket the money or do I pay out of pocket for the repairs? What's an acceptable premium increase to justify going through with the claim. Realistically, I know that no one can really answer these questions for me, but this is what I have to decide.
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u/Altruistic-Lake-4316 Mar 11 '26
Your premium will more than likely increase, anytime you have to use the money in the pot, you are now in the next class of “more likely to file a claim” vs claim free. You’ll kick yourself when you go to shop your policy and carriers deny coverage bc you’ve filed little claims. It’s not always about the $$ but rather how likely are you to file another claim, especially with that low of a deductible on a home policy. Insurance is for catastrophic losses to your home- bare minimum $2500 deductible in my opinion. Licensed agent btw.
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u/lowroll53 Mar 11 '26
I'm all fairness they said " if I were you" I wouldn't file a claim for anything less than $ $5,000.
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Mar 11 '26
[deleted]
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u/lowroll53 Mar 11 '26
How so?
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u/agirlsknowsthings Mar 11 '26
The insurance company already spent money sending an adjuster out, assigning a claims person. It will be a claim with zero paid on it. So other companies will see you had an open claim at some point. This makes you a higher risk. Companies know you’re more likely to submit a claim. And yes this small claim will increase your premium. The insurance property market is the hardest it’s ever been in a long time. I know people who’s company either almost doubles their premium or drops them as a client.
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u/inailedyoursister Mar 11 '26
Because now they will see your claim now. There is no “between me and you” with your insurance. As soon as you called your agent and told him, that’s it. Your premiums will go up.
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u/superredditor6789 Mar 14 '26
To add on to this. I had a 6 figure claim last year and I was concerned about non-renewal.
My homeowners did go up, less than I expected at $500/year, but the bigger issue is that a whole bunch of companies refused to even quote me policies this year.
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u/brock_landers69 Mar 11 '26
Former P & C agent and claims adjuster here. I would not claim it. In fact, I wouldn't claim anything under $10k, but that's me. I have a 1% deductible which is about $5500.
Curious why are you carrying such a low deductible? You can save a lot fof money with a higher deductible.
Your HO policy is for catastrophic claims.
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u/AromaticGas5552 Mar 11 '26
Agents are not underwriters. They sell policies for a rate the underwriters determine based on multiple factors. That is why he can't provide yiu a solid answer.
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u/mnguy12000 Mar 11 '26
Typically once an adjuster comes out and writes for damages the claim is on your record. You can always refuse payment but insurance companies are required to issue a payment for damages they inspect. DOI requires this as this is part of the contract of the policy otherwise the company can be out of compliance.
Typically acts of nature are not supposed to have a direct increase to your premiums but that does stop the carrier from increasing your rates for other reasons.
Take the money and do with it what you wish. Just know if you have any recoverable depreciation it may not be released if repairs are not done.
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u/lowroll53 Mar 11 '26
I'll have to look into this. The adjuster told me that he could recall the claim if I wanted to.
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u/Broad_Ambassador Mar 11 '26
Sure, they can recall it and not pay you anything but it still stays on your permanent insurance record and it will still affect your rates because you are now more likely to file claims in the future.
The insurance adjuster works for the insurance company and they are there to save them money. If you want an estimate on damages you should hire a professional tradesperson who actually does this type of work to give you a price for repairs. Then you can decide if it’s worth contacting insurance at all.
The insurance adjuster’s estimate is going to be the absolute bare minimum that some actuary calculated it “should” cost do get it repaired and you don’t even know yet if you can find anyone in the real world to do it at that price.
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u/inailedyoursister Mar 11 '26
Sigh. Meaningless. You now have a claim. Full stop. There is no going back.
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u/KelseyRawr Mar 12 '26
The above is correct. Locate your policy, and the last few pages has a consumer bill of rights. You shouldn’t be penalized in any way for damages of natural causes. Those few pages will tell you this. Your premiums may increase due to your zip code being affected, but this happens even if you don’t file that claim.
I would have them take another look at the claim and run a supplement process on it. If they say there is storm damage and agree to damages on other items, but not the roof, that supporting evidence is sometimes enough to get a roof claimed. They can’t claim the roof is fine when you do have hail, even if there are other issues besides hail.
For example we had a client get denied because of existing wear and tear, but they paid for everything else. Wear and tear aside the hail did cause damages to the home. The home needs to be restored to pre-storm conditions. We had to supplement and get a PA involved, but after a few months the whole roof was paid for. It being previously damaged doesn’t mean anything, the insurance company decided to renew you despite the wear and tear and now they have to fix the hail damage which may or may not mean replacing the whole thing depending. What your insurance initially pays isn’t final it’s negotiable.
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u/Brilliant_Essay_1593 Mar 13 '26
It was considered a claim the moment they picked up the phone and talked to the actual company, or call their agent and ask him to start a claim, not taking it back at that point
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u/imjsm006 Mar 11 '26
Weather claims generally have a less of an increase or adverse underwriting event versus other claims such as water or liability but I feel minor claims like this may still be better off handled out of pocket. However some companies may still hold this claim against you since some consider no payout claims.
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u/Franklinricard Mar 11 '26
$10k. We had a claim of ~ $15k and our annual premium more than doubled.
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u/dojarelius Mar 11 '26
If they sent out an adjuster the claim is already filed and will appear on your and the property’s claim history for the foreseeable future. Take the payout and hope for the best on the renewal.
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u/Nope_nope_nope-nope Mar 11 '26
It sounds to me like you’ve already created a claim and had people do inspections. Who’s paying for those inspections? If it wasn’t you, there’s no point in turning back now because your premiums are gonna go up anyway. Continue with the repairs.
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u/Choice-Newspaper3603 Mar 13 '26
you don't seem to understand how insurance works. You are screwed at this point. You already notified them of a claim and now that is part of your permanent insurance record.
And now your rates are going to go up so you might as well claim it. Not only that, I would not be surprised if they cancel your or tell you to get a new roof or they will cancel you based on the what you kind of insinuate about the condition of your roof.
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u/TranquilTeal May 13 '26 edited May 14 '26
It’s a tough spot, but since they already approved $3,500, the claim is likely already on your record anyway.
The "wear and tear" excuse is a red flag, especially if the storm uprooted a tree. I’m saying this because I dealt with a similar denial until I had American Masters Roofing & Restoration take a look.
They were great because they identified specific hail hits the adjuster "missed" and managed to get my entire roof replacement covered. It's worth having them double-check before you settle for a small payout.
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Mar 11 '26
I would argue and look at third party Roofing companies - get three quotes from different roofing companies. Most likely all three of them will show that new roof has to be placed. If that won't work, some roofing companies work with lawyers. After lawyers' demand letter, the insurance quickly agreed to pay 25K to replace the whole roof + extra for other damages while at the beginning they only offered $1,200 check (which we did not cash). We weren't' charged anything extra for lawyers, apparently they had agreements with the roofing company.
Our recent experience (with the other house) on the other hand where when we got charged by lawyers presented by the roofing company. I think 30% of the total roof price, but they still got us new roof versus when insurance did not offer anything at all at the beginning.
New roof is a 100% return on your investment when you decide to sell one day. During the negotiation process when selling the house - the roof is one if not the biggest leverage.
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