· by Michael Blair, Nashville's Roofers
Middle Tennessee sits in a hail corridor, and a roof claim is the claim most homeowners here will eventually make. How much it pays depends less on the damage than on two words in the policy. Replacement cost coverage pays to put a new roof on. Actual cash value pays for the roof you had, depreciated for its age, which on an older roof can be a fraction of the cost to replace it.
The two ways a roof is valued
Replacement cost value, RCV, is the cost to replace the roof with one of like kind and quality today. Actual cash value, ACV, is that same figure minus depreciation for age and wear. A fifteen-year-old shingle roof with a rated life of twenty-five years has, in the insurer’s arithmetic, used up most of its value, and an ACV settlement reflects that.
Insurers have moved a great deal of roof coverage in hail-prone regions to ACV in recent years, sometimes by endorsement added at renewal. The declarations page says which you have. If it names a roof surfacing payment schedule or a cosmetic damage exclusion, read those too, because they change the outcome more than the deductible does.
How an RCV claim is actually paid
Even under replacement cost, the first check is usually the ACV amount. The insurer holds back the depreciation, called recoverable depreciation, and releases it once the roof is replaced and the invoice is submitted. If the work is never done, the depreciation is never paid.
There is normally a time limit for completing the work and claiming the holdback, and it is in the policy. A roofer who understands this process will document the replacement the way the adjuster needs and submit it promptly. One who does not can cost a homeowner the second half of the claim.
- First payment: the depreciated value less the deductible
- Roof replaced and invoiced
- Second payment: the recoverable depreciation
- Deadline for the second step is in the policy
The exclusions that catch people
A cosmetic damage exclusion means the insurer pays only for damage that affects function. Hail that dents metal roofing or vents without opening them may be excluded entirely. On shingles the argument is usually about whether granule loss and bruising count as functional damage, and that is decided by inspection rather than by the policy text.
A separate wind and hail deductible, often a percentage of the dwelling coverage rather than a flat amount, is increasingly common here. On a large house that percentage can exceed the cost of a modest repair, which is why not every hail event is worth a claim.
What to do before the next storm
Read the declarations page now and find out which valuation the roof carries. If it is ACV on a roof that is past its middle years, understand that a claim may pay much less than a replacement costs, and plan for the difference. Some insurers will move a roof back to RCV once it is replaced, and that is worth asking about.
Keep the date and the invoice from the last roof replacement, and photographs of the roof in good condition. The single most useful document after a storm is proof of what was there before it, and it is the one most people do not have.