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7 Tactics Insurance Companies Use To Exploit Homeowners…
Written by Brandi Taylor / 
April 19, 2021
Dear Homeowner,
I’m John Mclean I’ve been a Storm Restoration Roofing Salesperson almost my entire adult life.
For many years I falsely believed that insurance companies had the best interest of their policyholders, however, in the last 2 years, I have discovered a HORRIFYING secret.
Insurance companies are deliberately and purposefully misleading homeowners in order to increase profits!
My goal in this blog is to finally tell the truth behind what they do in a simple way. So average homeowners in America can understand what is going on and PROTECT their families from a WOLF in Sheep’s clothing.
What the insurance carriers are doing right now is insidious and I believe PURELY evil. The saddest part is NO ONE is talking about it. That is why I have decided to dedicate a large portion of my days to educating homeowners so they can protect themselves.
Let’s begin, shall we…
- They Delay Claims
Every insurance carrier takes excessively long to pay out claims. This has always been an issue. But has increased with storms in recent years.
When you file a claim it should only take 48–72 hours to dispatch an adjuster to your property. But many times it takes 6 days or longer to get an adjuster on site.
Then they take a minimum of 2 weeks to process the claim and another 3–6 weeks to issue payment. This makes no sense because the insurance carrier has all the information they need from the field adjuster when the claim estimate is completed.
When I worked in South Carolina field adjusters had payment authority and issued checks onsite, meaning that it took less than 7 days to issue an ACV (Actual Cash Value) payment why does it take Insurance companies in AL, FL, and LA over 30 days!! The answer is it doesn’t they just do it because they can. - They Hire Un-Qualified Adjusters
Your insurance company often hires TPA (third-party-administrator)firms to adjust claims, these firms are NOTORIOUS for hiring rookie adjusters some of which have never been on a roof and have no certifications or training. This is a HUGE safety liability issue for homeowners because you can be held responsible if they fall off your roof.
But the worst part is how the in-experience costs homeowners in my experience THOUSANDS. Carriers know this which is exactly why they do it.
Think about it, if you send someone who has never installed a roof or built anything EVER. Give them estimating software with a few hours of training what will happen. A LOT of mistakes, these mistakes save the insurance company BILLIONS, and homeowners don’t fight it because they think their insurance companies estimate is final.
P.S. Your insurance companies estimate is never really final unless you agree to it. - They Tell You “They Don’t Pay For That“…
Insurance companies use a program called Xactimate I don’t care for it but we’ll discuss that topic at another time.
Xactimate makes it possible for insurance carriers and contractors to work together to create an accurate scope of work with just measurements to replace all items damaged. It is a great tool but the reality is that adjusters are taught to abuse it. Insurance carriers religiously beat up contractors over important items required by manufacturers in order to install a roof to code.
For example, they tell us we don’t pay for starter and ridge because it is included in waste. That’s not TRUE because they are separate types of materials and require separate types of installation, furthermore, we have to pay for them so we have to bill for them. Carriers get away with it because some contractors would rather just eat it, instead of holding up their paycheck. If we argue with them they just drag their feet and it hurts everyone.
I have even had adjusters say they won’t pay for CODE upgrades! This means they would love for us to break the law to save them a few dollars.
Your insurance company would love for you to hire an unlicensed, uninsured, Un-qualified contractor because they save a ton of money and they don’t care that you have to live with the consequences. - They Make The Claims Process Confusing
Insurance companies love to make the process as confusing as possible.
For example, it took me years to learn how to read Xactimate estimates and decipher if they paid correctly. I’m not great at Xactimate because the software never works right and costs a FORTUNE. Also, the prices don’t reflect accurate market costs.
They also make identifying damage confusing, it changes daily but ultimately damage is damage period. What matters is the severity and how extensive it is. But they don’t look at it that way.
The bottom line the more frustrated you get the less they have to pay because odds are you will just give up and accept their low ball offer.
Instead of taking the time to document every detail of your claim to get every penny, they SHOULD pay you. It is wrong when they play these games because it hurts you and you don’t even realize it.
The way a claim should work is you should get the best possible roof system available so you don’t ever have to WORRY about roof leaks and problems. - They Ask You To Get 3 Bids
If you have a trustworthy restoration contractor you DO NOT NEED any bids. The cost they estimate for the project is what your insurance company owes period.
The reason why they ask you to get 3 bids is that they KNOW that every time they do this a contractor will give you a bid for less than theirs. Saving them potentially thousands on your claim and giving you a poor quality roof system.
Shortcuts always lead to leaks or problems in my experience, please trust me I have repaired so many roofs that wouldn’t have needed repairs if the original contractor had followed correct installation practices. - They Tell You Your Contractor Is Over-Charging
Insurance companies know that replacing a roof or repairing a home after a significant loss is scary. They realize that you probably have some concerns with hiring a contractor and what they charge. If insurance companies would just pay fairly there wouldn’t be a need to worry about the price for anyone.
So what insurance companies do is they lie and tell you they think the contractor’s price is to high based on what?
They do this in the hopes you will cancel your agreement with a professional roofer that is trying to install the highest quality roof he can, by providing quality labor and good materials. To find a roofer that will do the job for what they want to pay and leave you with the leaks and headaches. - They Take Shortcuts
Many times your adjuster has limited experience in the field and almost no experience in construction. This is a huge benefit to the insurance company because the lack of knowledge allows them to train adjusters to write bad estimates. These estimates often require contractors to take dangerous shortcuts to stay within budget. Construction is very detailed and hiring an honest reliable contractor with the experience to fix jobs correctly is expensive. It requires experience and training.|
So instead of insurance companies spending money on training adjusters to correctly write accurate estimates they hire rookies and rush them to skip items and not pay for vital components.
In my experience, this practice is extremely inaccurate and massively expensive for the homeowner, and profitable for the insurance company.
Contact Taylor Made Services to get your free roof inspection today!