My roof was damaged in a hail storm and now we need a new roof. Insurance is paying for it (yay) but we have a $1,000 deductable (boo). Everything is approved and set to go, but I was wondering if there is anyway to help get the cost of the new roof down to help offset the deductable cost? I don't want to get a cheap roofer because that's just asking for trouble, but do you think we could ask the "insurance approved" contractor to come down on the price by $500 to help us out? Will they do this? Is it okay to ask? If he says no then I'm considering getting other bids to see if we can get a lower bid then what our insurance is paying us.

Does anyone have any expirence with this? Roofers are busy here and not really in need of jobs so I'm not sure how much my bargining is going to help anything.

Open to any advice!

I think no matter what you have to pay the deductible on the claim... the only time you wouldnt is if the cost is under the amount of the deductible at which point you really dont want to file a claim...

Sorry...

I had the same situation last summer. I was able to place a sign from the company that did the work in my front yard for a month. They "paid" me the price of my deductible to do this. In the end, I have a new roof, siding, gutters (the whole nine yards) and all I needed to do is make sure the construction company sign stayed in my yard for a month for others to see. I would ask them if you can do something like that. Let me know.

We just went through the same situation. We found a roofer that offered us this deal, if we put his sign in our yard and kept it there until after the roof was installed and all the payments were received from the insurance company they would cut our deductible in half. So, instead of $1000 we only had to pay $500. It was great and they are awesome roofers!

ETA:

Jasper Contractors Inc

It looks like the same company works in your area!

Ya that is true you can do that .. my uncle does that all the time..

I was more thinking from the aspect of if you dropped the amount on the cost of the roof.. would the deductible go down... in that case I think no matter what it wouldnt.. someone (whether you or construction company) is responsible for the deductible??..... is that a correct statement??

Hey - I'm going to use that signage deal to see if I can get anything knocked off whomever gets the various bids for work we're getting done on our house in the next few months before we sell it!

Yep. In that instance she'd have to pay the same $1000 deductible. The insurance company will pay for whatever the bill is minus $1000.

If the roofing contractor cuts a deal with her over putting a sign up in her yard, then the insurance company would pay their share and the contractor would just lower what they'd personally owe them from the $1000, if anything.

No signs here. I live in a community that doesn't allow them...and DH is the HOA president, so that won't fly.

That's too bad. How about trading some of your stockpile?

What stockpile...I don't have a stockpile

You think that they would work for Wags diapers?

Hmm, I'd still check out Jasper...they may offer something similar even without the sign since your community prohibits them. Just a thought.

Well, technically, according to the covenants, we could put one up, and then we would get a violation letter, and have 15 days to bring it down.

I would just try to get a lower bid. We had an insurance claim on our kitchen floor about 6 months ago. Our deductible was $1,100, and the total estimate was around $3,700. The insurance company gave us about $2,600 and we used a company who actually did the work for $1900, so in the end we made money. Oh, and not to mention that I got the tile that I wanted and not the same pergo, which is what the bid was for. I'd say just check around, especially if the company is giving you money. If you have a good company they probally pay well.

We use MetLife, and from what I understand, I have to get the estimate from them to see what they are going to give us to get the roof fixed. And, if I can find someone to do the work for that then I don't have to pay the deductible.

Stephanie, does your association nix signs in a window of your home? If there's nothing in the bylaws against that, you might be able to do it instead of a lawn sign.