The Risky Business of Roofs in Hail Prone States

For homeowners in hail-prone states, hail damage is unavoidable, and almost every property owner will file a hail claim at one time or another. Last year, in the hail-prone states of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, CoreLogic claims data showed that almost 44 percent of 2018 property claims were hail damage-related and 90 percent of the hail claims included roof covering damage. Of those hail claims with roof damage, 70 percent had a roof age of 12+ years.

Given the same claims data indicates an average of $9,000 price tag to repair or replace hail-damaged roofs, insurers should improve their understanding of a roof’s risk both at underwriting and before renewals by validating the roof’s current condition, age, and hail risk; and to price or decision accordingly.

In the past, validating a roof’s age and possible prior damage has traditionally involved the decision to order a physical inspection which is expensive and more importantly, can disrupt or alienate the policyholder. Relying on homeowner-supplied information isn’t a good option either, since most homeowners can only guess at their roof’s age and furthermore, cannot be expected to climb a ladder and provide images that validate the current condition of their roof.

By adding roof age data, hail forensics and current, high-resolution aerial imagery to new business and renewal workflows, carriers can virtually “see the unknown” without disrupting homeowners with a physical survey. In a recent pre-renewal portfolio analysis, our roof age and hail risk data identified 25 percent of over 77 thousand properties in high hail risk zones had a roof age older than the carrier’s threshold. High resolution aerial imagery further identified 11 percent of properties had tarps, missing shingles, or possible pre-existing roof damage. For carriers hoping to reduce their roof risk while simultaneously managing inspection budgets, adding this kind of high-quality roof risk data to their underwriting and renewal workflows just makes sense.