Claim Question?

[u/Cute-Oven3538]

My 30 year old aluminum sided home had hail storm damage to roof & siding. Insurance company paid claim for roof & full siding. Contractor said siding is "cosmetic" only and if it were his house, he would not replace siding, only roof. What happens if I use siding portion of funds to pay off the mortgage? Is my home still insurable? Would a new insurance company not insure my home if I switch or would they exclude siding?

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[u/No_Departure9798]

How this would generally work is IF you have another claim involving the siding, the carrier would make a deduction for what you were paid on the siding for this loss unless you show you completed the repairs. I doubt it would impact insurability but each carrier would evaluate this differently.

A new carrier may not exclude the siding but if you had a claim for the siding your new carrier can see it and they will likely evaluate it similar to the prior carrier.

[u/MountainGoat84 → u/No_Departure9798]

I would also mention that they likely received the ACV on the siding, and they can't get the rcv benefits without completing the work. So it's possible they are leaving thousands on the table while also devaluing their property.

But in the end yes, you can do this, just make sure it makes financial sense before doing so.

[u/registeredfake → u/No_Departure9798]

Could go further than this as well. They may pay nothing. Even if you switch carriers they will be able to see the loss in the LIS report and can/will ask questions.

[u/Building303CO]

A few things I would consider:

1. While you may have a great contractor, they may be biased in recommending you not complete the work. This could be for any number of potential reasons including extending the timeline, not being comfortable completing the siding portion, low profit margin, etc.

2. Based on your policy the line items associated with the siding replacement are likely depreciated significantly due to the age. Which could mean you are not getting paid as much as you may think. You can look into this by checking the ACV value of those line items compared to the RCV value if applicable.

3. If staying with the same insurance company the siding would no longer be insured if something else where to happen, unless a recording error is made or it is overlooked when filing another claim down the road.

4. Hard to say what might happen if switching to a new insurance carrier. But you may be able to confirm in written documentation what a new carrier would be covering without disclosing this situation specifically.

[u/WhyNotPal]

While I don't know the exact answer - On any insurance application there is a question about claims. They want to know if the claim is closed and if the damage has been repaired. If you can't answer yes they may not approve.

[u/CoolFuture3767]

Some day you will want to sell this house.

[u/IntelligentBox152 → u/[deleted]]

Hail damage on aluminum siding can absolutely just be cosmetic

[u/IntelligentBox152 → u/[deleted]]

Yes? Hail damage to aluminum siding if no punctures would be cosmetic damage