Posted on 10/18/2004 12:17:51 PM PDT by Old Professer
Threatened with cancellation, this homeowner was coerced into replacing the roof, much of the decking and fascia and the gutter system after a "random, drive-by photo visit."
I told the nice young lady to please E-mail me the pictures in question so I could see what the complaint was. It turns out that the pictures were taken back in January about the time of the renewal date and had been held for 7 months before they bothered to contact me.
As a person of limited means and little equity this came as quite a shock and try as I might, I couldn't disabuse them of the notion, so I set off on a tortuous path of refinancing and contractor-shopping.
As I write this, I'm awaiting a second "drive-by" attack to verify the adequacy of my response.
I have had this policy for 9 years and 10 months and have never heard of such powers vested in insurance companies.
When I asked if I was singled out the lady told me that "several" people had been similarly contacted and they all dutifully complied but she drew the line at identifying these people or where they lived relative to me.
Has anybody else here had this happen or know someone to whom this has happened?
I've never heard of such a practice. How old is your current roof? Most shingles come with a 20-40 year warranty and the manufacturer may assist with the cost of replacement.
I've never had that happen, but what reason was given for the replacement? Was the damage extensive?
I would suppose the reasoning would be is if the roof was very badly damaged, prior to a loss, would the loss have been less if the roof was in good repair?
I don't feel they should have waited as long as they did though.
I would be shopping for new insurance before renewal.
Just my thoughts/opinion
I would try shopping for another insurer first. State Farm is so-so. Farm Bureau is much cheaper than the rest. Is your roof that bad off? If it is, it will save you a lot of money down the road to go ahead and have it done.
How could they have seen much of the roof from a street level photo?
What state are you talking about?
Insurance companies have had it up to here with scumbag customers like you who are interfering with their inalienable right to retain all of the premiums as profit.
Just pay your (ever increasing) premiums and keep your mouth shut. And don't even think about filing a claim to collect under the policy. You will be cancelled first chance they get. Impertinent policy holders who actually think they should get something back in exchange for their premiums must be punished and deterred.
Other homeowners beware!
Some guy just showed up. They were not even home, as when they drove in, this guy was walking around the house. She complained to the insurance company that there was no notice of the person needing to come look at the roof, so they could be present.
In some parts, I could see where a stranger walking around your property without any prior notice could cause a problem!
Around these parts, it's the City that does that kind of stuff.
I just was blindsided by the heavy-handed approach, they even threatened me with blackballing me with competing insurers.
We had a bad hail storm and within 2 weeks, a couple of dozen neighbors all had submitted claims for new roofs.
Ours didn't look damages and I assumed that the roofing contractors (they swarmed the sub-division after the storm) was just conning the insurance companies.
I called my Allstate agent and told him I was concerned. Our roof looked ok to my untrained eye, but I wanted them to send out one of their experts to give me their opinion. I was willing to take their word for it even though I knew it would be biased.
Agent told me that if they sent someone out that it would count as a claim even if they found nothing. Suggested I have a reputable roofing contractor come out and look at it, but suggested that my neighbors were just a bunch of crooks getting new roofs at the expense of the insurance industry.
I had pretty much decided not to do anything. The roof is 15 years old and looked ok to me. But now that I have read your post, I have decided it would be in my best interest to make the claim before they come around at renewal time and tell me the roof had now deteriorated.
Thanks again.
They inspect new customers that don't have locals do it presale. They don't want to insure problems. These things are done by insururs. The reason for this, is that a bad roof rots, then caves in a storm. or leaks increasing the cost of the damage. I'm sure the policy mentions "good condition", or the equivalent for coverage.
Yup. State Farm did it to me after Hurricane Andrew. Only they didn't give me any notice at all, just a cancellation. Seems my rates were too low.
My main residence was drive-by inspected by my insurer last year -- fist time in the 18 years I've had the home and policy. My agent explained to me why many insurance companies did this at the same time, but I can't recall -- I think it was some change in the law that it made it advisable for them to do this to protect themselves. They didn't ask for anything unreasonable -- just a couple of little things, one of which was the local water company's responsibility (and they fixed it).
My country home was inspected shortly after I purchased it and insured it with the same insurer. They asked for a couple of bigger things, but nothing unreasonable (that porch they asked me to rebuild really WAS in danger of swallowing someone).
If your roof really was about to start springing leaks, it's reasonable for them to require it to be replaced before interior water damage starts up. However, if the roof was really fine, something is amiss here. I took the gutters off my house a long time ago, so they don't bug me about those :-) If a house has decent depth eaves, and the surrounding land is properly graded, gutters are a useless nuisance and can even cause roof damage when ice backs up in them.
Couldn't you just go and get another insurance? People switch insurance companies all the time.
Now that you fixed your roof, I really recommend you switch insurance companies. You never know what they would come up with next year.
Allstate has had problems in the past, with state governments coming down hard on them. Because of this, I have used State Farm for all my insurance needs auto, and home, for over thirty years. Never had a problem.
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