Roof insurance claim premium hike?

[nzwasp]

I made a claim on my roof last night - as far as I know the roof only has one shingle worth of damage but the adjuster is going to look at the whole thing. Do your premiums go up much if they have to replace a few shingles or the whole thing?

[silvercivicsir]

is it worth paying the deductible for 1 single ? and they will not replace the whole roof if only one single is damaged

[HK2NR]

whole roof's shingles were replaced on my last claim, paid a grand deductible out of the $3000 to repair. Did not see any substantial hike in premiums if any. With TD MM

[CapnCrunch]

First off, why would you make a claim for 1 shingle?

Second, nothing should happen with your premiums unless you've claimed roof damage multiple times.

[prosh]

I would guess that if you're making a claim regardless if its one shingle or the whole roof, it'll go on your file as a claim and depending on the insurance company, once your file is up for renewal whether its this year or years to come, they'll jack up your rates at some point.

I just got a courtesy call last week from MM saying that my home premiums are going up from $778 to $1323 and their justification is because of all the hail and wind claims last year, all insurance companies are raising rates to compensate for their 'losses' which stinks of BS to me considering neither I or my neighbours ever made a claim last year.

[mt12]

It depends on what caused the roof damage from my understanding. Just talked with my insurance company, and as long as it is an "act of God," then your premium will not go up.

[nzwasp]

Yes one shingle although no idea if theres damage on the top of the roof - this is just the garage roof that has some damage - i think the plywood sheet underneath is needing replacing too and it also looks like the builder never actually built the roof right in the first place - lack of flashing near the gutters.

I was hoping the adjuster would check the whole roof out but he told me that they would only repair within 3 foot of the inital damage - i have no idea what caused it - anyway he advised me it was likely less than the deductible to fix it so dont bother with insurance.

Im going to get it repaired and then get the contractor to check main roof and if they find anything file a claim on that instead.

[Doozer]

Too bad you already made the claim. Most companies will have some sort of "1st claim forgiveness" which won't affect your rates, but one thing they don't tell you is that a claim is a claim - REGARDLESS of whether the insurance company pays you out or if you don't pursue. So that forgiveness has now been used.

But, maybe yours is different from mine, who knows.

What I do know is that most insurance companies are hiking premiums in a lot of Calgary neighborhoods regardless of whether you've made a claim or not, because they claim a lot of neighborhoods are undercharged relative to the rest of the country.

Who knows whether it's true or not, but it's something we're all going to have to deal with. Mine went up a bit this year, but nothing like some others have mentioned, so maybe some people will get lucky.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by prosh
I just got a courtesy call last week from MM saying that my home premiums are going up from $778 to $1323 and their justification is because of all the hail and wind claims last year, all insurance companies are raising rates to compensate for their 'losses' which stinks of BS to me considering neither I or my neighbours ever made a claim last year.

Tell them you call bullshit, and explain to them that you'll be shopping your insurance around should they choose to go through with that. I had a similar conversation with TDMM about a single at fault claim on my auto insurance causing me to have a spike in rates, when I've been previously 15 years without an at fault incident.

[Masked Bandit]

Wow, lots of misinformation in this thread and at this point I don't have time to clear it all up but here's the long and the short of it:

Your broker should be able to explain the specifics of your policy and the impact a claim will have on your premiums. Sometimes it will cause an increase, sometimes it won't, lots of variables. Whomever it was that said they talked to their guy about "act of god" obviously doesn't live in Alberta or he's full of BS. The phrase "act of god" doesn't exist in insurance in Alberta. There is no such thing. A claim is a claim is a claim.

The other thing of note here is that house insurance across all companies has had some pretty big increases in recent years and guess what kiddies...it's going to get a whole lot worse here pretty quick. I'm hearing numbers in the 25% - 50% range over the next couple of years. All the insurance companies are telling us that they've lost money hand over fist on property insurance over the last five years and they just can't absorb it any longer. I don't know if it's BS or not but in the end it doesn't matter, the increases are coming.

[InRich]

if you need the whole roof done, you know who to call.!!! pm me

[guessboi]

Originally posted by codetrap
Tell them you call bullshit, and explain to them that you'll be shopping your insurance around should they choose to go through with that. I had a similar conversation with TDMM about a single at fault claim on my auto insurance causing me to have a spike in rates, when I've been previously 15 years without an at fault incident.

And what is the outcome? A recent at fault accident will spike up your rate if you don't have an accident waiver. Simple as that.

[guessboi]

Originally posted by mt12
It depends on what caused the roof damage from my understanding. Just talked with my insurance company, and as long as it is an "act of God," then your premium will not go up.

+1 with Masked Bandit...Act of God BS. That person don't know what he/she is talking about.

[guessboi]

Originally posted by Doozer
Too bad you already made the claim. Most companies will have some sort of "1st claim forgiveness" which won't affect your rates, but one thing they don't tell you is that a claim is a claim - REGARDLESS of whether the insurance company pays you out or if you don't pursue. So that forgiveness has now been used.

False Information about automatic 1st claim forgiveness.
Also there are companies that will come see your roof and if there is no damage or you decide not to pursue the claim due to minimal damage - this will not affect your rate.

[Doozer]

Originally posted by guessboi


False Information about automatic 1st claim forgiveness.
Also there are companies that will come see your roof and if there is no damage or you decide not to pursue the claim due to minimal damage - this will not affect your rate.

Reread it. I never said there is "automatic first claim forgiveness". I said some companies have it. Mine does. Some don't.

[msommers]

Can your premiums go up if you use your vehicle for business use? I told my insurance company that I drive ~30K/yr, 20K at most is for business use. Because of that, my premiums went up $200 instantly. I asked why and all she could say was it's their policy for business vehicles even though the same person is driving it the whole time...

[guessboi]

Originally posted by Doozer


Reread it. I never said there is "automatic first claim forgiveness". I said some companies have it. Mine does. Some don't.

Yes but usually there is a charge for the waiver. It is not free coverage.

[guessboi]

Originally posted by msommers
Can your premiums go up if you use your vehicle for business use? I told my insurance company that I drive ~30K/yr, 20K at most is for business use. Because of that, my premiums went up $200 instantly. I asked why and all she could say was it's their policy for business vehicles even though the same person is driving it the whole time...

Yes business use is a different rating.
Are you visiting clients or using the vehicle to go job sites?

[codetrap]

Originally posted by guessboi
And what is the outcome? A recent at fault accident will spike up your rate if you don't have an accident waiver. Simple as that.

Negligible increase. Along the lines of $30/year. I think that was due to inflation. Just to be clear, I do not have accident forgiveness.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit
All the insurance companies are telling us that they've lost money hand over fist on property insurance over the last five years and they just can't absorb it any longer. I don't know if it's BS or not but in the end it doesn't matter, the increases are coming.

Really? According to TD's annual report, the insurance arm had a net income of $1.13B in 2012, AFTER claims & expenses. That doesn't include the interest income on all that money they took in. They're far from hurting.