Winter Snow Damage---Homeowners Insurance (house, deductible, eat) - Pittsburgh - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

Hopes · 02-24-2010, 07:38 AM

This may sound like a stupid question, but I've never once put in a claim on my homeowner's insurance.

I was wondering if the insurance would pay for the damage the ice caused to the downspouts and gutters. Maybe they consider it an act of God.

trotter_rej · 02-24-2010, 07:52 AM

I think it could be claimed. Unless the policy explicitly excludes the cause of the damage (such as flooding), I think it's fair game to claim it. If lightning hits your house and catches it on fire, I'm pretty sure you can claim that even though it's also an act of God.

hempfield mania · 02-24-2010, 08:00 AM

Most likely they will. My parents had a minor water issue on one window/wall last week and called their agent to see if they were supposed to anything "preventitive" in nature to prevent it. The agent stated that is why they have insurance and just leave it alone. If there is damage, they can take care of it later. A bigger "claim" could be made if my dad went up on the roof and fell off and got hurt. In any case, they hired a couple guys to shovel off the roof and clean out the gutters in that one location and their problem was solved. I would have been over to help but, I don't get home from work until almost dark and they were leaving on Thursday for an extended weekend trip.

I was up on the roof for a couple hrs on Sat. and cleaned off all the snow and broke up and removed all my ice dams. Several of my neighbors were started to have water issues and I wanted to prevent it. Wasn't too bad up there with the sun heating things up. Still sore today though.

You may want to get some estimates first on the work and then decide if it is even worth filing a claim. If you have a $500 deductible and the work isn't much more than that, you may be better off just paying to get it corrected outright. That claim may not be subject to rate increases but, it will show up down the road, especially if you have had multiple claims before or need to file a more substantial one in the future. Not saying this is the case here but, in many parts of the country (especially along the coasts), a couple claims can be reason enough for an insurance company to totally drop you and then you are stuck looking for new insurance, with recent claims on your record. Your claims will show up on a database when you apply for new insurance.

It stinks that we pay all that money each year for insurance but that is how that industry works. May want to float that question to some agents (independent of your company) on a msg board specific to them and get their thoughts on the subject (after you get some estimates).

BrianTH · 02-24-2010, 08:11 AM

Our insurance company has been fine so far. They seem to be fully expecting a LOT of claims.

Hopes · 02-24-2010, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hempfield mania

If you have a $500 deductible and the work isn't much more than that, you may be better off just paying to get it corrected outright. That claim may not be subject to rate increases but, it will show up down the road, especially if you have had multiple claims before or need to file a more substantial one in the future. Not saying this is the case here but, in many parts of the country (especially along the coasts), a couple claims can be reason enough for an insurance company to totally drop you and then you are stuck looking for new insurance, with recent claims on your record. Your claims will show up on a database when you apply for new insurance.

This is the main reason I have never filed a homeowners insurance claim. I always viewed it as something to use for total destruction and I feared premiums would increase if I used it for smaller issues. I've had issues that were in the 2k range and haven't filed in the past.

Yet I have friends who claim damage to all sorts of things----computer falling off the table, etc. If I have a young child who knocks a computer onto the floor, I'd consider that my own stupid fault. In reality, people could file those types of claim when they purposely destroyed property so I can understand why insurance companies might take into consideration a past history of mutliple clams.

However, I'm just not in the mood to have my husband install new gutters and downspouts this year. I'd rather hire someone to do it, and it would be nice to use the homeowners insurance since my husband has had the policy for 30 years and we've never filed one claim. Hmmmmmm.........

NANDOAL · 02-24-2010, 09:19 AM

We've had to file 2 seperate claims so far. The 1st our back porch collapsed because of the snow, and yesterday our gutters fell of the back of our house. I really hope all this is covered by our Homeowners Insurance.

Drover · 02-24-2010, 09:46 AM

At the risk of pointing out the obvious... why not just ask your insurance agent? (S)he'll be able to give you a more definitive answer than we could.

robrobrob · 02-24-2010, 10:19 AM

I got water in my house like many others due to ice backing up in the gutters. Anyway, I have an adjuster coming out in a couple of weeks. My concern is about the water within the walls and not visible damage. On the surface, it seems as if the damage is relatively minor but who knows what happened inside the walls. My adjuster says he doesn't care about a moisture reading. I thought that would be pretty important. Anyway, my walls for the most part look okay but there was water pouring through them last week. Thoughts?

greg42 · 02-24-2010, 10:36 AM

You have to weigh it. I actually have a $1000 deductible on my homeowner's insurance because I'm not going to put through anything small. Even if it's over your deductible, the reality is claims can and will affect rates and ability to renew. That's why the people that claim every little thing boggle my mind. Don't insurance companies ultimately non-renew these people? That's what I've always heard.

Anyway, this type of damage should be covered. I read a story on it somewhere but can't remember where. You do have to make a decision fairly quickly as you need to put in a claim within a reasonable time of the event. Sometimes you can notify the company (or perhaps just your agent) before deciding to go through with a claim.

If you have an agent, call him/her. That is what they are there for. They can help you sort out the best option even if you're not actually filing a claim.

Drover · 02-24-2010, 03:14 PM

I'd say this isn't really a "little thing" though -- logically speaking, you'd think the insurance company would be glad to replace damaged gutters because it will be cheaper to do that than to eventually eat a claim for damages to the house or foundation that would result if the gutters aren't fixed.