There are some good minds on this forum, and I'm hoping for some wisdom being dispensed as I have a dilemma that is bothering me.
I live in a custom built, energy efficient home that wedesigned and moved into two years ago. One of the features is a class 4 roofmade with GAF impact resistant composition shingles. If you aren’t familiarwith the product, the shingles are designed to survive hailstorms that woulddestroy standard shingles. A hail storm last year damaged every single roof on my block to be replaced, except mine. These shingles allow for a substantial policy discount.
About a month ago we had a bad hailstorm with 70 mph windgusts. After the storm passed, a leakdeveloped over the kitchen which is covered by a dormer with multiple valleys. Icalled the insurance company and they sent out a claims adjuster. He inspectedthe roof and found only cosmetic damage from the hail, and couldn’t locate theleak, so we assumed it was caused by a wind-lifted tab that wasn’t readilyvisible.
My insurance has a deductible of one percent of the housevalue, which would be about $3,500. Iexpected I would have to pay for a roofer to find and repair the leak, as the repaircost should not exceed the deductible.
Additional hail damage to a vinyl fence might run another $1,000.
This morning I received a check from the insurer for nearly$39,000! The roof needs nothing more than the leak fixed, but it appears they paidfor a complete replacement, plus ceiling and paint damage, plus total fencereplacement.
A few days ago, between rainstorms, I had a local roofer seeif he could find the leak and he sealed one area that looked like it might be thesource. He said that if that didn’t fix it, he couldn’t do more until theweather improved, and then he would just have to start removing shingles in thedormer area until he found it, and he had no way of giving an accurate estimate short oftotal replacement.
The dilemma I face is that it’s only right to return thecheck, and for me to pay for the repairs, but the check is payable to me andthe mortgage company and I don’t know what their position would be. Themortgage remaining is less than one-third the appraised value, so thedepreciation by not having a two-year-old roof replaced wouldn’t affect their share of theproperty value. However, they certainly have a vested interest in maintainingthe value of the house. Since I have no way of knowing for sure what the repaircost might be, and I assume the deductible was already removed from the finalpayout, I might be cutting my own throat if the repairs proved to be quiteexpensive and actually exceeded the deductible.
Normal greed would say to cash the damn check and forgetabout it, but my conscience won’t let me do that and I’ve always preached thathonor is doing the right thing when no one is watching. I want to be fair andbe able to sleep at night, but I also don’t want to be a fool.
Opinions?
I live in a custom built, energy efficient home that wedesigned and moved into two years ago. One of the features is a class 4 roofmade with GAF impact resistant composition shingles. If you aren’t familiarwith the product, the shingles are designed to survive hailstorms that woulddestroy standard shingles. A hail storm last year damaged every single roof on my block to be replaced, except mine. These shingles allow for a substantial policy discount.
About a month ago we had a bad hailstorm with 70 mph windgusts. After the storm passed, a leakdeveloped over the kitchen which is covered by a dormer with multiple valleys. Icalled the insurance company and they sent out a claims adjuster. He inspectedthe roof and found only cosmetic damage from the hail, and couldn’t locate theleak, so we assumed it was caused by a wind-lifted tab that wasn’t readilyvisible.
My insurance has a deductible of one percent of the housevalue, which would be about $3,500. Iexpected I would have to pay for a roofer to find and repair the leak, as the repaircost should not exceed the deductible.
Additional hail damage to a vinyl fence might run another $1,000.
This morning I received a check from the insurer for nearly$39,000! The roof needs nothing more than the leak fixed, but it appears they paidfor a complete replacement, plus ceiling and paint damage, plus total fencereplacement.
A few days ago, between rainstorms, I had a local roofer seeif he could find the leak and he sealed one area that looked like it might be thesource. He said that if that didn’t fix it, he couldn’t do more until theweather improved, and then he would just have to start removing shingles in thedormer area until he found it, and he had no way of giving an accurate estimate short oftotal replacement.
The dilemma I face is that it’s only right to return thecheck, and for me to pay for the repairs, but the check is payable to me andthe mortgage company and I don’t know what their position would be. Themortgage remaining is less than one-third the appraised value, so thedepreciation by not having a two-year-old roof replaced wouldn’t affect their share of theproperty value. However, they certainly have a vested interest in maintainingthe value of the house. Since I have no way of knowing for sure what the repaircost might be, and I assume the deductible was already removed from the finalpayout, I might be cutting my own throat if the repairs proved to be quiteexpensive and actually exceeded the deductible.
Normal greed would say to cash the damn check and forgetabout it, but my conscience won’t let me do that and I’ve always preached thathonor is doing the right thing when no one is watching. I want to be fair andbe able to sleep at night, but I also don’t want to be a fool.
Opinions?
