ROOF LEAK – SHOULD I CALL MY INSURANCE COMPANY
Dealing with your insurance provider in a time of crisis–like when you have a major roof leak–can add stress to an already difficult situation. And unfortunately, that difficult situation has an unavoidable, almost immediate investment associated with it.
You can’t wait too long to pay to have your leaky roof fixed. So you’ll likely end up paying the roof leak repair cost out of pocket right away and then concentrating on recouping all or some of the costs from your insurance company after.
It’s important you know how to navigate this unique situation. You want the process of “roof leak to roof fixed” to be as quick and stress-free as possible. Home insurance companies are notorious for finding ways to not honour their contract with you–it makes good business sense from their perspective.
In this article, we’ll go over what is generally covered under a home insurance policy, which scenarios exclude you from the policy, and what you need to know before attempting to call your insurance provider to make a claim.
What is Covered Under Home Insurance?
Typical home insurance covers the homeowner’s home and contents in the case of an accident. It’s important to read and understand any insurance policy before purchasing.
In the case of Comminsure Home Insurance provided by CommBank, as provided on their webpage, their policy covers:
- Accidental glass breakage
- Animal damage
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Fire
- Flood
With some additional benefits like:
- Alternative accommodation costs
- Contents in transit
- Damage by emergency services
- Demolition and debris removal costs
- Domestic pet cover
The items listed above are just some of the events and benefits covered. We encourage you to visit their site for a complete list.
CommBank is Australia’s leading provider of integrated financial services, including retail, premium, business and institutional banking, funds management, superannuation, insurance, investment and share-broking products and services. Now, whether or not your home insurance covers roof leaks depends on the circumstances of the leak.
Home insurance will cover roof leaks if they are caused by falling trees or branches, other falling objects, windstorms, hail, extreme weather conditions, vandalism or accidents. Basically, your insurance will cover roof leaks if the cause was unavoidable.
Where it gets complicated is if your insurance company can determine if the roof leak was caused by neglect or negligence on your or maybe a roof contractors part.
In the case of a roofing contractor causing a roof leak due to accident or negligence, that roofing contractor should have been fully insured on their end before the work started. And so if it can be proven that your roof leak was caused by some sort of lack of maintenance or repair causing:
- Malfunctioning roofing components
- Mould or algae build-up
- Wood rot
- Nesting from birds, rodents or insects
- Settling, shrinking, or bulging infrastructure
Your insurance provider could find grounds to disqualify you from your policy. These causes are generally considered avoidable and are reasons to be disqualified.
Keep in mind that these situations do not apply to every insurance provider, and we strongly advise homeowners to consult their policy in the event of any roofing damage. Comminsure Home Insurance will likely differ from other insurance policies on the market.
So now that you know what is generally covered in home insurance policies and how you could be excluded from coverage, should you still call your insurance company?
Should I Call My Insurance Company
The answer is yes but if you can, not right away. Before calling your insurance provider, whether it be Comminsure Home Insurance or not, it’s important to equip yourself with knowledge about your roof leak event. This includes the scope of the damage, what exactly was damaged, the roof leak repair cost you paid and any and all information that you can gather.
You should know that you won’t be able to gather all of the necessary information.
This is why you wait before calling your home insurance provider. You don’t want to give them any reason to exclude you from your policy.
The first call you should make is to a professional roofing service. You may have called them to fix the immediate roof leak, but you need to make a call to explicitly talk about the information you need and how to prepare yourself for calling your insurance provider.
A professional roofing service will have the knowledge and experience to understand what questions and what information your insurance provider is going to expect from you. They’re going to understand general estimates you should be looking to receive if you are covered and whether or not you have a case, to begin with.
Never make a home insurance claim, whether it’s a Comminsure Home Insurance claim or not, without first doing a lot of preparation.
You don’t want to extend the process of filing a claim by having to “get back to your provider” with key information just to find you’ve been excluded.
You don’t want to end up paying out of pocket any more than you have to. We absolutely recommend you consult with a professional roofing contractor. It will save you time and money in the end.
We are the best providers of roofing and gutter cleaning services throughout New South Wales so please don’t hesitate to call our trusted team of roof and gutter experts. We’re here to help.