Tired of hearing the complaints about homeowners insurance

[Bob CTS]

So the area I live was slammed with a hail storm in April.

My insurance company came out reviewed the damage and released a check to me and the mortgage company. I had to send the check to get it endorsed, was a little worried over the process but it all worked out. I had alot of estimates and reviewed the contracts of each contractor and at the end I broke even. That included taking in my deductible and depreciation.

I am just over hearing from all my friends that:

I can't afford the deductible
I think depreciation is unfair
The insurance company is hosing me
and etc


If you can not afford the deductible then lower it to what you can afford, if you do not want depreciation then get a replacement cost policy.

I have a friend that had a 20 year old roof and it was depreciated $1.5k and he thought that was unacceptable. I just do not understand that line of thinking.

I just shake my head sometimes.

rant off

[Bill]

Replacement cost coverage isn't much more expensive than ACV (actual cash value) insurance. I can't understand why anyone would not have replacement cost, even if they needed a larger deductible to afford it.

[Bob CTS]

Replacement cost coverage isn't much more expensive than ACV (actual cash value) insurance. I can't understand why anyone would not have replacement cost, even if they needed a larger deductible to afford it.

I do not not even have replacement coverage but think I was treated very fair in the claim. But then again I understand the coverage that I have.

[mikeg826]

Happened to us last June, Hail storm came through and damaged our aluminum siding, originally State farm thought they would be able to repair/replace damaged pieces to match, after they came out (and they suggested we look at damage to roof), they replaced all siding on main dwelling, along with roof on main and detached garage. Total Insurance paid to us was approx 40K, total project cost was about $47-49K. So for minimum out of pocket, we replaced:

- both buildings roof (insurance), we only had to pay to have the decking replaced on both buildings due to improper install by previous owner;
- siding on main house (insurance) - complete tear off of aluminum, wrapped house, replaced with insulated vinyl
- Siding on garage - we decided to replace stucco with same siding on house
- new gutters on both buildings,
- new entry door, storm door, and window (insurance)

When we replaced the roof, we installed a ridge vent in there, and when we re-did the soffits we drilled holes in there to properly vent attic. World of a difference this year, and our AC is not running upstairs as much.

Here are before and after pics I posted before:
http://hmgoodwin.com/cf/houseold.jpg

http://hmgoodwin.com/cf/house_new.jpg

So yes, Homeowners is worth it IMO -

[LATB]

entitlement syndrome

[LATB]

F you! They owe me!

:lol:

[ConstantChange]

I had hail come through about a year ago and damage my roof. At the time I had no idea you could choose between ACV and RCV. First house, first claim, blah blah blah. I had ACV, but everything worked out fine. My roof was about 14 years old and I think I was only out of pocket $1,000 for complete removal and upgrade to architectural shingles.

The thing that REALLY helped me was I talked to roofers on here or CF, can't remember, and got the actual cost to do the roof (materials, labor, etc...). I then negotiated a great price on the roof. The sales guy, who is a firefighter and does sales on the side, said he learned a lot. He had no idea the actual cost to do the roofs. He said they tell him he needs to stay above $X amount and he's good. He said he only got half his commission due to the price, but didn't mind. He still made a few hundred bucks for less than an hour of work.

This did bite me a little bit because after the work was done I tried to get the depreciated value or whatever the money is called you get after the work is completed and they said I didn't qualify because in order to get the price right on the invoice, the sales guy sold me the vents and some other things at $0.00. Those were the things I would have gotten a small amount of money back on. Since it shows I didn't pay for them, I didn't qualify. Not really a big deal, but it's something to think about.