bmet said:
From what I've been hearing from multiple roofers as after the last 3 months of storms in the Houston area...don't even think about going with SF or Allstate if you want to be paid for wind/storm damage. I assume they might be fine if your house burns down. (I currently have a SF policy, but I've heard enough to switch even if it costs me a bit more).
I got a new roof approved by State Farm the week before the storm. Dumb luck, I probably had the industry's best/nicest adjuster. He approved my roof and my neighbor across the street based on damage from multiple hail storms, several just in the last year. I had heard all the bad things about SF (had procrastinated on this because I just didn't want to deal with them) and was prepared to be denied.
I've been with SF for about 20 years as a homeowner (longer on vehicle), and this is my first homeowner's claim.
Our houses are about 13 years old, and the adjuster did say that, if you wait too long then wear and tear due to the age of your roof can cause them to deny your claim - even if you have weather event damage. Basically the wear and tear becomes more significant than the damage.
I'm not sure if it would get approved now, though, just because so many people have trees on their houses and obviously worse damage.
My premium jumped about 25% from last year to this. I know that's not as big of an increase as others are getting, but I'm expecting more over the next few years due to age and the stupid crazy weather events we've had. Worst case scenario would have been paying higher insurance rates as well as OOP for a new roof.