What the Hail Happened?

[Big E3]

I thought I would post a follow up. Adjusters and appraisers have all come and gone. House gets the two year old roof replaced plus gutters, downspouts, windows, screens, shed roof, barn roof and misc other yard items. The car at $5600 to repair was totaled and the truck at $3500 will be repaired. Now if I didn't have to deal with the $3500 in deductibles it would not be bad.

This brings me to a new issue that was discovered during the process. The 2003 car that I bought from an acquaintance in 2009 turns out to be a salvage. Neither me nor the acquaintance have had "salvage" on the title. According to my insurance company it was totaled in California then sold and the salvage title was processed through South Dakota then on to Colorado with a clean title. Clearly it was not a severely damaged car because since I've had it I have put 102K on it with just tires and breaks. My issue is that they now want to cut the settlement on the car in half because of the salvage title.

[Irving]

Title washing is an issue. It was sold in those states for that specific reason. I don't know what you can do about it though. I think you should fight them for it. They agreed to insure the vehicle, and they wrote the terms. You had no knowledge that the vehicle had previously been totaled, so they can not argue that you withheld information from them. If they could, then they could cancel the whole policy; but they aren't trying to do that. In Colorado, titles are clearly marked as salvage, so I don't think you have any greater duty than looking at the title to ensure that the vehicle was not previously totaled. If either party had known the vehicle was salvage, it would be different because they never would have agreed to put comp and collision on the policy. Since neither of you knew, I think they need to bite the bullet and pay the policy that they wrote. Since an insurance policy is a contract of adhesion, they must interpret the policy as broadly as possible to benefit you.

I don't have personal experience with this particular issue, but Snowman78 on here may be able to help. My advise is to threaten a DOI complaint (as a last resort), but Snowman may have better insight. One very important thing to keep in mind though, if the insurance company wants to cut your settlement in half, then perhaps they should be offering you a refund on half of the portion of your comp and collision premium that you've paid since the inception of your policy. Work the math on that and see if you can be properly compensated. They can't expect you to agree to taking lesser value on your vehicle, while they keep the premiums for a non-totaled vehicle. Good luck.

Oh yeah, some companies offer to combine deductibles for large events like this. Meaning, if you have your home and your autos insured by the same company, and one single event damages both the home and the vehicles (fire, hail, tornado, etc) they'll just apply the largest deductible of all the policies, for the entire loss.

[Snowman78]

Title washing is an issue. It was sold in those states for that specific reason. I don't know what you can do about it though. I think you should fight them for it. They agreed to insure the vehicle, and they wrote the terms. You had no knowledge that the vehicle had previously been totaled, so they can not argue that you withheld information from them. If they could, then they could cancel the whole policy; but they aren't trying to do that. In Colorado, titles are clearly marked as salvage, so I don't think you have any greater duty than looking at the title to ensure that the vehicle was not previously totaled. If either party had known the vehicle was salvage, it would be different because they never would have agreed to put comp and collision on the policy. Since neither of you knew, I think they need to bite the bullet and pay the policy that they wrote. Since an insurance policy is a contract of adhesion, they must interpret the policy as broadly as possible to benefit you.

I don't have personal experience with this particular issue, but Snowman89 on here may be able to help. My advise is to threaten a DOI complaint (as a last resort), but Snowman may have better insight. One very important thing to keep in mind though, if the insurance company wants to cut your settlement in half, then perhaps they should be offering you a refund on half of the portion of your comp and collision premium that you've paid since the inception of your policy. Work the math on that and see if you can be properly compensated. They can't expect you to agree to taking lesser value on your vehicle, while they keep the premiums for a non-totaled vehicle. Good luck.

Oh yeah, some companies offer to combine deductibles for large events like this. Meaning, if you have your home and your autos insured by the same company, and one single event damages both the home and the vehicles (fire, hail, tornado, etc) they'll just apply the largest deductible of all the policies, for the entire loss.

If the Colorado Title did not have any salvage title marking then I would settle the claim based of full market value. It is very difficult to spot the salvage marking on some of the older Colorado titles, it is just a lower case s on the from side top left.

[Big E3]

I have sent copies of the title to the agent and adjuster, clearly not a salvage title.

[Snowman78]

If you want to PM me the vehicle info (VIN & mileage) I will give you an idea of what I would offer as a total loss settlement.

[Irving]

Before the public adjuster thing starts up again, I have to step out of that conversation because I don't have any personal experience with one. I'm sure there are both good and bad experiences.

[Big E3]

You are right they are already considering more on the car since nobody knew it was a salvage. My agent told me yesterday that they do offer Comp on salvage vehicles so nothing to be gained on past premium rebates. I have been trying to get them to raise the car settlement but had not heard or thought of combining the deductibles for a single event. I think the battle is just beginning, I just don't know where to start, they have different adjusters for the house and vehicles. I think I will wait to see what the next offer on the car is. Maybe shop for some legal advise.

[Irving]

They'll have to offer the combined deductible as part of whatever they sell, but you should still ask to see if that is an option. I'd remain firm on the value of the vehicle. It doesn't matter that they will write comp on a salvage, because the amount of the premium is based on the value of the vehicle. So the premium would be lower if they knew the vehicle was salvage, as they would know up front that any settlement amount would be based on salvage value instead of normal value. You've been paying premium for a non-salvage vehicle, so if they want to settle at a salvage value, then they owe you a refund. Depending on how long you've had the car insured with them, the refund may be more than the difference in regular value and salvage value. They might as well just pay you the regular value.

[TheGrey]

We have to put in a claim. :/ We were out of state from the 1st through the 8th, and when we could actually take a look in the bright-ish light of day, our fence got the living daylights hammered out of it, and a roofing contractor suggested that we have a claims adjuster come out and take a look. Most of the houses in our neighborhood were damaged.

This is our first roof/storm claim. Do we wait for the adjuster to look everything over first, or do we have a contractor look over the damage with the adjuster? The roofing contractor said that it looks like only parts of the roof were damaged, but that the color of our shingles isn't made anymore. What the hell does that mean? That insurance will pay for part of them and we'll have to spring for the rest, or else have a multi-colored roof? Our fence is a cedar picket style that's pretty common, and there are divots galore- it looks like a spotted fence now. What does the insurance company generally do for that sort of damage? Our AC unit has a few areas in the 'fins' that are squashed, too. Is that something that is 'easily' er, combed out?

Please excuse the questions; we're still learning about the responsibilities of home ownership. I appreciate any helpful responses!

[Irving]

This is our first roof/storm claim. Do we wait for the adjuster to look everything over first, or do we have a contractor look over the damage with the adjuster?

You can pick whichever contractor you want at any time. It is not necessary that the adjuster and contractor be there together though. Keep in mind that the "contractor" is only a sales person. They like to be there to point out anything and everything to the adjuster. The adjuster doesn't need the contractor to be there to write the claim, but it doesn't hurt to have them there together.

The roofing contractor said that it looks like only parts of the roof were damaged, but that the color of our shingles isn't made anymore. What the hell does that mean? That insurance will pay for part of them and we'll have to spring for the rest, or else have a multi-colored roof?

It depends, that is possible. After the last few years of fires, the department of insurance required all insurance companies to make changes to policies that extended certain coverage. Since insurance companies were forced to re-write their policies anyway, they took the time to change some things like material matching and creating roof payment schedules. Basically, the insurance company may no longer have to match a shingle that isn't made anymore, or match siding when the exact color can't be found. Roofers are slow to this info though. Roofers specifically target certain makes and colors of roofs, and go knock on the door and say there is damage, whether there is or not, because in the past if the product couldn't be matched, the insurance policy would pay for an entire new roof. Since the change, roofers have miraculously been able to find materials that "aren't made anymore." Just ask your company about that when you make the claim.

Our fence is a cedar picket style that's pretty common, and there are divots galore- it looks like a spotted fence now. What does the insurance company generally do for that sort of damage? Our AC unit has a few areas in the 'fins' that are squashed, too. Is that something that is 'easily' er, combed out?

For fences, they usually just pressure wash the fence so it is all fresh wood, and it can age evenly. Unless you have huge dents in the wood, any divots will all work themselves out in probably one season due to moisture and temperature change. You can do absolutely nothing and your fence will likely return to normal by next year, but hail splatter is technically damage, so they'll at least pressure wash it. I assume it's not painted since you said it is cedar. The A/C unit can be combed out and that should be put into the estimate as well.

Finally, more than likely your insurance company will have this storm as a CAT (catastrophe), and a CAT adjuster will show up to do the claim. That makes no difference to you, but you may hear the term "CAT" thrown around. Post up any questions you have.