Hail Damage: Prevention and Claims

As in any type of claim situation, you are encouraged to take steps to prevent hail damage to your property or reduce the extent of damage, if at all possible.  For example, closing all windows in your home would prevent water or hail from entering the home and causing damage to your personal property. Parking your vehicle in your garage, covering it, or moving it to a more sheltered location would prevent or possibly reduce the extent of hail damage. That being said, your personal safety is priority, so only take these actions if it is safe to do so.

In the event that you have suffered hail damage to your Home, Automobile, or other personal property, we encourage you to contact us to report your claim.  This will allow us to review your coverage with you, confirm all of the details of the claim, update your contact information if necessary, and report the claim to the appropriate Insurance Company on your behalf.  In the event you are calling after hours, you can contact toll-free claim line for your appropriate Insurer (as found on our website).

When reporting a hail damage or weather-related claim, our Insurance Companies request that you please report it within 48 hours of the incident occurring, as there are often a large number of claims being reported.  If all of the reports are made quickly and efficiently, it allows the Insurance Companies to have a better understanding of their volume of claims, the number of Adjusters or support staff they will need on-hand, and the reasonable timeline that they can get the claims settled.

With respect to your coverage, a policy deductible would apply in the event of a hail damage or other weather-related claim. A deductible is the amount that you self-insure, or the amount of expenses that must be paid out of pocket before the Insurer will cover any additional amounts.  For most Insurance Companies, the higher deductible you have the lower the policy premium.

If you are claiming on your Personal Property Insurance (ie a Homeowner’s Policy), the claim could potentially impact your policy premiums on renewal.  If you have an existing claims free discount, then on renewal your discount would be removed and the premium would be adjusted accordingly.  However, there is an endorsement avialable by most Insurance Companies which will protect your claims free status in the event of a first loss.  This endorsment is titled “Claims Free Protector” or “Personal Property  Claims Protector”.  If you are not sure if you have this endorsement on your policy, give us a call and we would be happy to review your coverage with you!

If you are claiming on your Automobile Insurance, the claim would be covered under the Comprehensive portion of your policy.  If you do not carry Comprehensive coverage on your vehicle, then there would be no coverage in place for a hail damage or weather-related claim.  Under the Automobile Insurance policy, a Comprehensive claim would not impact your poilcy premiums on renewal.

Hopefully you have found this information helpful, and as always, if you have any questions regarding your policy or coverage, or if we can be of any assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact us @ 403-245-2424 or www.costeninsurance.com.

Thank you,

The Costen & Associates Team.