Will my homeowner's insurance policy pay to replace the roof on my house? Mike Goodman here, agency, principal Goodman insurance solutions. And today, I want to talk specifically about the top and what types of coverages you might have. This is a question that we get quite a bit. And, you know, in terms of ranges, a lot of times what we see daily is that person will have either replacement cost coverage on our policy, or they might have actual cash value coverage on their policy; I want to talk about these two, two different ranges because they are distinctly different, they both have their advantages. And then I want to talk about some disadvantages of one of those; okay, so if you have an insurance policy. You have a roof on your house that is relatively new; most likely, you've got replacement cost coverage; what your replacement cost coverage is going to do is that if you have a claim. The adjuster comes out and deems it necessary to repair your property; then, the coverage will respond in a way that will replace what you have with new materials.
Now, if you have a roof that either is not in excellent condition or B has some age to it, a lot of times when I say era, something that is more than 20 years, all right, in terms of age, and you probably have what's called actual cash value on your coverage on your policy, I should say. And so the way that will work in a claim scenario is that they will take the cost to replace your roof, and then they will subtract the depreciation from that, and then that will be your settlement. And so, you know, a simple way to look at this is if you, you do have like a 30-year shingle, okay, so the manufacturer expects that shingle to last, at least up to 30 years, and you currently you're at your 20, okay, so theoretically, you've got ten years worth of life left on that. In the actual cash value settlement, they will apply that depreciation that will be subtracted from the cost to replace, and that will be your settlement. The actual cash value is not the end of the world, especially on something new, you know, say that we put a roof on today, and we've got actual cash value coverage; it's not the end of the world, it's only been one day, between yesterday and today. And so obviously not going to be a whole lot of depreciation, where we can get into a little bit of trouble is that if we have a roof that has, you know, its life has done, alright, then you get into a situation where there's not a whole lot that's going to be paid out in that scenario probably. So just wanted to go over those things; I understand that question about how coverage will work. As dull as the insurance paperwork is, I'm sure for most of you might be a good thing to look at some time. If you pull out your declaration page, you should be able to find that coverage. You know, on your policy, and many times I'll see folks for their insurance policy, they might have replacement cost on the house. But when you get to the part where it talks about the roof, specifically, it might say Actual Cash Value, depending on its age of it.
Will insurance replace my roof?
I hope that I cleared some of that up. Again, this is Mike Goodman with Goodman insurance solutions, and if you've got further questions, please feel free to reach out to us at 620-531-0261 or find us on most social media platforms. Thank you for your time, and have a great day.
