Insurance Claims
Since the big hail storm of May 2000 we have
assisted many hundreds of home and business owners with settling their insurance
claims in a quick timely manner by giving the insurance providers the
information, estimates and data they need. The insurance companies often tie
homeowners down with red tape and technical requirements that most
homeowners just don't have time for. We will assist the adjuster and the
insurance company, in any way they desire, to help you make sure you
aren't short changed. This helps insure you aren't going to pay any out of
pocket expenses beyond your deductible. After all the insurance
industry's mission statement is to "Pay to repair or replace the damaged
items, returning them to as good as or better condition as existed
before the loss.
Contact us today and we'll be sure and assist you
in any way we can.
A letter from the owner
concerning insurance claims and storm damage...
Dear Homeowner,
As you
know, we have had a lot of severe weather systems pass through our areas
in the past several months. These storms brought with them especially
large hail to much of the Chicagoland area. Although it is possible
that the hail may not have damaged your home, you still need to have the
exterior of your home inspected and certified to ensure a high resale
value. This is because many realtors and home inspectors are seeing
hail damage as an effective negotiating tool at the time of sale.
We are
a local company, not an out-of-town company that rented a local
office and started soliciting area residents for their business. We
strongly suggest that all area residents use a local contractor
to repair the storm damage. Lets face it, where will the
out-of-towners, or as they are often called “stormchasers”, be when its
time to stand behind the work they did. We recommend you research your
contractor using the internet. Some good sites to visit when doing this
are; The Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (www.dpr.state.il.us.com),
The Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.com),
The National Roofing Contractors Association (www.nrca.net),
and your local Chamber of Commerce websites. A few minutes of research
can save you a lot of money and inconvenience.
Please
call us for a free inspection of the exterior of your home today. If we
find no hail damage we will be happy to provide you, free of charge,
with documentation stating this. You should keep the certification with
your home files to help ensure the highest value at the time of sale.
If we do find hail damage we will help you in any way we can, even if
that means helping you provide the insurance company with the
information they need to settle your claim for enough money to complete
the work. We are very experienced at this and we can often assist
the adjusters to find overlooked damage on
claims that were formerly denied.
Sincerely,
Michael V.
Sutcliffe
Owner/Licensed Roofing Contractor
A few helpful
insurance damage claim hints.
(Taken directly from our sales staff handbook).
Keeping the money and not repair the damage.
If the homeowner does decide to keep the money
and not use it to repair or replace the damaged items (which is
perfectly within their rights) they need to understand a few important
facts. Number one, the homeowner will not be able to
collect any more than the current cash value for the damaged items, not
the full replacement cost. Number two, the items that the
insurance company paid to repair or replace will not be
eligible for future coverage until they are actually repaired or
replaced.
A homeowner, often times
needs to be informed of the possible repercussions of keeping the money
and not doing the repairs to their home. In the recent years since the
hail storm of 2000 many homeowners have had to deal with the sad reality
of their actions when deciding to keep the insurance money and not do
the work. They have had to face this when they sold their home. The
unrepaired damage is often times detected by the home inspector that the
buyer hires to check out the home that they are about to buy. These home
inspectors quickly become heroes when they ask why the hail damage was
not repaired. The home inspectors are very good at looking for this
damage and it is usually part of their inspection. They can save their
client (the buyer) thousands!!
Example: A claim that was
totaled at $21,000.00, of which the customer kept the initial check
for $14,000.00 (the actual cash value), ten years later (considering
inflation) becomes a very big problem. That $21,000.00 replacement, plus
inflation of maybe $4,000.00, plus a little incontinence money of maybe
$1,500.00! If you do the math you’ll see that the customer is going to
lose $26,500.00 from the selling price of their home. It really wasn’t
worth keeping the $14,000.00 was it.
So guys, please tell the
customer that it is in their best interest to do the work!
Tear-off or roof-over
Many insurance companies are offering a option for a
roof-over instead of a tear-off. This is a wise option for the insurance
company to offer, financially. It really has no advantage for the
homeowner. The repercussions for the homeowner when they decide to
roof-over existing shingles are; You are unable to address any
poor quality or damaged wood under the shingles or add modern protective
products like ice & water shield. The homeowner is faced with the
large extra price increase when they need to tear-off the old roofing
next time they replace the roofing. At the time of sale the fact
that there are two layers on the roof can come into play. Hey,
the insurance company is willing to pay to have it torn off, so do it!!
The bottom
line is that it is the customers best interest to go ahead with the tear
off . Not doing so results in the insurance company saving money and it
eventually costs the homeowner money!!
Will I be dropped by my insurance carrier for
filing this claim?
This is a subject that is sometimes brought up by
homeowners you’ll talk to. There are a lot of factors that go into a
insurance underwriter’s decision to drop a customer from their coverage,
mostly past history of claims is considered. Ethically they should not
take into account an act of God as a homeowners fault, but that decision
is not up to us as insured’s. The opinion of almost everyone is that an
act of God like hail does not effect your eligibility to keep existing
insurance or get insurance in the future.
A homeowners claim for a
hail loss does not raise your individual premium, but in actuality, the
insurance company raises everyone’s homeowners rates company wide.
Avoiding questions of insurance fraud.
Insurance Fraud is a very bad and very real
thing. My grandfather once told me; "Rob, its easy to be honest
and so much harder to take the path to dishonesty". Although it is
often tempting to keep a little extra insurance money to line your
pockets it is wrong and you'll find that Jarvis Exteriors, Inc. would do
nothing to endanger our companies employees and their families or you
and your family! We work hard to dot the i's and cross the t's
ensuring no questions of foul play arise from insurance companies fraud
investigation units. The fact exists that the insurance companies
do audit their claims, at random, for fraud. Although the
possibility of an audit is small, it can and has happened resulting in
heavy fines and even imprisonment! Some contractors are quick to
file a padded invoice of work completed only to be asked for all
paperwork on the claim right down to cancelled checks and contracts.
These shady contractors are not looking out for you and your best
interests. The liability of their greedy actions turns out to be
your liability, too.
If you are sure to avoid the items listed below, you can avoid a
potentially troubling situation.
1.)- The
insurance deductable is the responsibility of the homeowner and
to remain legal, this amount must change hands
in the
form of a check to the company doing the work and although we could give
you a material upgrade or additional work for NO CHARGE if the
deductable is adequate, we can not, under any
circumstances, waive your deductable. We could also offer to rent a spot
in your yard for a yard sign for a period of 30 to 60 days but we must
still collect a deductible check and write you a separate check from our
company for the rental spot. NOTE: The checks must change hands so
we are clear and legal in case of a claim audit.
2.)- Avoid the words;
waive of roll in.
3.)- Avoid a lot of free
upgrades, because this can Red Flag a claim
for a audit in a hurry!
Hail damage photos
Home |
About Us |
Products & Services |
References |
Faq's & Technical Help |
Portfolio |
Coupons |
Contact
©2010
Jarvis Exteriors, Inc. All rights reserved. Designed by
FDI Creative Services, Inc. |
Houston Web Design
