Roof Insurance Claims After Hail in Indiana

What Is and Is Not Covered

Covered, generally: sudden and accidental damage from an identifiable event. Hail impact that fractures the shingle mat. Wind that removes shingles or breaks sealant bond. A tree or limb strike. Damage to interior finishes caused by the resulting water intrusion.

Not covered, generally: normal wear and aging, granule loss from ordinary weathering, damage attributable to poor original installation, and damage that developed gradually because a known problem was not addressed. Insurers describe this last category as maintenance, and it is the most common denial reason.

The practical implication is timing. A roof that was already at the end of its life when hail hit is a harder claim than the same event on a ten-year-old roof, and waiting a year to file makes attributing damage to a specific storm considerably harder.

ACV vs RCV: The Difference That Matters Most

RCV policies pay what it actually costs to replace the roof, less your deductible. Payment typically arrives in two parts: an initial actual-cash-value check up front, and the recoverable depreciation released after the work is completed and documented. That second check is why keeping the final invoice matters.

ACV policies pay only the depreciated value of a roof of that age. On a twenty-year-old roof that can be a small fraction of the replacement cost, leaving the homeowner covering most of the job. Many people do not know which type they hold until they file.

It is worth reading your declarations page now rather than after a storm. Also check for a separate wind/hail deductible — frequently a percentage of the dwelling coverage rather than a flat amount, and often substantially higher than the standard deductible.

The Deductible Rule, Stated Plainly

Your deductible is your obligation. A contractor who offers to waive it, absorb it, discount the job by exactly that amount, or 'work with you on it' is proposing insurance fraud. In Indiana, as elsewhere, homeowners have been prosecuted alongside contractors for these arrangements.

Treat the offer as diagnostic. A company willing to defraud an insurer on your behalf is telling you exactly how much its written warranty is worth.

We never do this. We tell people up front, and it costs us jobs to contractors who will. That has been the position since 1947 and it is not negotiable.

What We Do and Do Not Do

We do: inspect thoroughly, document with photographs, provide a written scope of the work the roof actually requires, and meet an adjuster on site to show what we found.

We do not: negotiate the claim on your behalf, advise you to file when the damage does not warrant it, inflate a scope, or touch your deductible. A denied claim can still appear in your claims history, which is a real cost of filing on cosmetic damage.

If your roof has cosmetic marking and no functional damage, our written finding will say so, and you can make an informed decision from there rather than from a sales pitch.

Frequently Asked Questions

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