Insurance Claim Readiness Quiz

Why a readiness quiz instead of "call now"

The roofing industry has an incentive problem after storms: file everything, sort it out later. I have watched that play out for twenty years, and homeowners carry the downside. A claim is not a lottery ticket; it is a formal event on your insurance history. Filed well, with a real date of loss and documented damage, it puts a roof on your house for the price of your deductible. Filed carelessly, it can raise your premiums, complicate your renewal, and pay you nothing.

So this quiz walks the same mental checklist I run standing in a driveway: Is there a nameable storm event? Does the visible evidence look like impact and wind, or like age? Is the damage scale clearly above the deductible? Is there anything in the history that makes filing expensive? Then it gives you one of three honest answers instead of a phone number.

What each result means

• Strong claim candidate. Your answers match the pattern of legitimate storm claims: a known event, fresh evidence, corroboration beyond your own roof. The checklist walks you through documentation and the first call to your carrier.
• Borderline: inspection first. Real signals, incomplete picture. The move is a professional inspection that either upgrades you to strong (with photos in hand) or saves you from a claim that was never going to clear your deductible.
• Likely maintenance. The pattern points to wear and age, which no policy covers. The checklist explains why filing anyway backfires, and what to fix now so a small problem stays small.

The three claim mistakes that hurt the most

1. Calling the carrier before documenting anything. The claim clock starts, the adjuster comes out, and the evidence conversation happens with whatever they find that day. Photos first. Dates first. Inspection first.
2. Filing on damage below the deductible. A $1,800 repair on a $2,000 deductible pays you nothing and still goes on your record. Price the repair before you file; that number decides everything.
3. Signing whatever the door knocker carries. After big storms, out-of-town crews chase the hail map. Some are fine; some vanish at the first supplement. Use a local, licensed contractor who can stand in your driveway again in five years. (We keep a whole guide on the red flags.)

Edit note for readers who work claims

The quiz logic, wording, scores, and thresholds live in one editable file, and the result checklists say exactly what they say on purpose: document, mitigate, verify against the deductible, and keep storm damage separate from deferred maintenance. If your carrier or state handles something differently, your policy and local rules win. That is not a hedge; that is how insurance actually works.