Having grown up and spent about half of my adult life in southwest Louisiana, I understand that a hail storm is serious (ask my tomato plants!) and causes tremendous damages but compared to a hurricane or tornado, I’ll take a hail storm and will not complain. My biggest complaint about the hail storm last week is the roofers! There are coming out of every nook and cranny wanting to examine our roof. The ones who we’ve interacted with have been super nice and professional. We’ve had quite a few cards left at the front door and I’m hoping they were also nice and professional but I’ve heard that some have been a bit pushy. The local town has been reminding people to check with them to make sure roofers are licensed to do work in the city limits (we are not in the city limits). I think it was 10 or 11 years ago – State Farm says 2015, I thought it was 2017 and Jeremy (former owner) said 2013, that our roof was replaced due to hail. I don’t think it really matters at this point but we’re having the same company install the new roof so if State Farm cares, we can get the info from the roofing company.
Just now, I heard a knock at the door. I’m expecting a Sam’s Club delivery and was hoping it would arrive while Vince wasn’t home. He doesn’t care but he would much rather go to the store than get deliveries and you know how I feel about that. Anyway, there’s a knock at the door, the two little barkers go completely nuts. I manage to escape from the basement without them bolting up the stairs. It’s not Sam’s. It’s someone I don’t know and he has a business logo on his shirt but these days, I don’t even trust that so I asked through the glass “Can I help you?” Of course . . he’s here to look at our roof. I told him . . we already have someone to replace the roof. He has this weird look. He said “I just talked to you.” Nope, didn’t talk to me. Then he told me who he was looking for and I told him . . one street behind me.
I would love to know how many roofs are getting replaced. Yesterday I went to Nevada and saw four or five roofs being replaced, probably a dozen or more roofing company signs in their front yards. Huge expense for the insurance companies means huge rate hikes for homeowners I’m afraid.
We also have to have five windows on the west side of the house replaced, as well as the gutters and downspouts. I’m thinking it’s just the gutters and downspouts on the west side and not all of them but I’m hoping to stay out of all this and have Vince deal with the insurance company, and the folks changing things. The fence is going to have to be sanded and re-stained in spots. The back deck needs to be sanded and re-stained. Thankfully all that was done last summer so no one is complaining about it needed to be done.
It isn’t all over but so far, State Farm has been a dream to work with. I feel bad but Vince keeps saying . .t this is why we pay for insurance but I feel like we’re asking for a handout. I know . . I don’t think Vince and I have ever had a homeowner’s claim. In Texas, we had six windows broken by hail but had a high deductible and paid for it ourselves. The CRV did get quite a bit of hail damage once and the insurance paid for that but in almost 30 years, that’s the only claim they’ve paid. I’d say they’re still in the net profit range on us, even after this claim.
Nelle Coursey says
I have my home and auto with State Farm and they have always treated us right. The next door neighbor to our farm started a fire and destroyed several antique cars, 1967 Nova, 1958 Chevy, !947 Chevy and others. They had Liberty mutual and they didn’t want to pay for anything. Their own adjuster said the 1967 Nova was worth 5,000 just for the body and the others were worth quite a bit! They only paid us $2,000 for the Nova because it was burned up and we couldn’t get that for it now!!! I will never use them and I cringe when their commercials come on. My brother dealt with this and I am so glad because I would have had a heart attack. They paid us nothing for the grass for the cows and the trees that can’t be replaced in our lifetime. I think it burned 3 acres. They barely paid for the repair of the fence and did not pay anything for labor. If it had been 3 feet over, it would have taken out our barn with a 1938 Chevy coupe and a 1937 sedan! I would have been hopping because that 1938 belonged to my brother who died in Vietnam. So not all insurance companies are reliable. Cutesy commercials do not make a good company.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
We’ve had a few SF agents that I wouldn’t want to be their neighbor! 🙂 We started out with one here and hardly anything went right so we ended up switching agents and the guy we have now and his office staff are so nice and friendly and have been very helpful with this hail damage issue.
Dottie Newkirk says
I’ve found out that even with no claims, we still get dinged – because of all the claims being processed across the board. After some of the BIG fires in the Texas panhandle last year, all the insurance companies RAISED the rates on everyone all across the state and some insurance companies quit writing new policies for the homeowner insurance. 🙁
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Yes and there seem to be so, so many claims these days with the crazy weather. It affects all customers when there are this many large claims – even those who have never had a claim.
Joye Cox says
Judy a bad hailstorm here in our area of South Carolina last May resulted in a new roof for us and about 90% of the shingled homes around here. Ours was replaced in August and I am still seeing roofer signs on some homes as replacements continue. I expect our premiums to increase, too. We have Farm Bureau insurance. And in January we were rear-ended and had to have costly repairs to my car (though not paid by my insurance company),
Patti Tappel says
Sorry to hear you got hail! It happened to us April fool’s day 2024. We got a new roof, gutters, gutter guards, screens, and had to have the cedar siding restained, to the tune of $28,000.
So last week, a year later, we get a letter from our insurance company starting due to the age of our roof, they wouldn’t cover storm damage as roof was too old. Now this is the same company that paid for the new roof. So after we called, told them it was a new roof, we had to provide them with the paid bill. . . They refunded us $216 ?????????
Good luck!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Any time we’re dealing with insurance, we need good luck. Glad you got that resolved. I wonder what truly is considered “too old” to be covered. I think we had to pay an extra $150 or something like that this year if we wanted a new endorsement that says something like . . if your roof is PARTLY damaged and the shingles cannot be matched, without the extra coverage, they can replace the damaged area with different shingles!” Good grief. What will they come up with next to keep from doing what they should do?
Paula Nordt says
Needville, Texas experienced a severe hailstorm about two years ago. Because of all the damage to cars and roofs, even though we made no claim, our home insurance increased over $1,000 for the year.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Seems like many years ago, yours went up if YOU had a claim. Now, it seems to be based on your area and that area seems to be expanding.