Home insurance claim repair ?

Hello. I made a home claim for hail damage and received the check. I plan on having the house re shingled as they were shot anyway. What they gave is basically what the estimate was. While there she also checked our detached 2 car garage with lean to. It is a metal/Morton type building. I knew there was hail damage on it but it is very light/can't see it except in very specific situations. I would like to just keep that money and not repair it at all as the damage is purely cosmetic. I will talk to my agent but am not sure if I will get a real answer or the company line. This is State Farm. So can this be done? If I do it myself for cheaper can I pocket the rest? Thank you for your time.

ahh, the joy of insurance claims - yes you can keep the difference - you will need it for at least 5 years of higher rates now......the claim will be attached to you for a while

We had hail damage a few years ago. Insurance company gave us about $30,000. Had a few people out and guess what? Their estimates were all for the amount the insurance paid. I fixed everything myself and did some other upgrades while I was at it. I spent about $10,000 on materials. The rest went into the bank. There is no inspection or anything afterwards. They give you the value you are insured for (actual or replacement value) and don't care whether you fix it or not. There of course is a record of your claim so you can't reclaim that damage again at a later date. For us, it was a really easy process and put some money away in the bank to cover my labor. If I had it fixed by a contractor and it cost more, they would have come back and reevaluated it and possibly paid out more.

Our rate did not increase due to the claim.

Just be sure to repair it correctly. Shoddy work is not insured down the road.

You can go to vegas with the check, but keep in mind if something happens to that building now it is a depreciated value because it is a damaged building. Yes, if you fix yourself you can pocket the rest. I work for American Family, but the principals are the same for most all companies.

To answer your question, it will depend on your states law's, but I think in general and in Mo, yes you can keep it.

We had a hail storm last summer that caused $30,000 in damage. Insurance wrote us a check for half the damages and then I had to have the contractor send them an invoice of the total repairs stating that the repairs had been completed. It was kind of a pain with the paperwork but not terrible. The insurance company never came out to see if the repairs had actually been done or not but the mortgage company did. I guess they were just covering themselves for if I was to just pocket the money and default on the loan they wouldn't get a house back that needs $30,000 in repairs. I still pocketed money the contractor just agreed to their estimate but was able to do it for less.

Yes you can keep the difference. We just got our checks from a tree limb that fell on the house and smashed the corner of the roof, popped the wood soffit boards, put a sag in our overhang and broke the cast iron sewer line, along with some patio furniture. We also had hail damage from previous storm that was worse than I thought. 1 check was for structural damage the other was for hail. They withheld a small portion of the money from the quoted estimate. If our repairs exceed the check amount we are to submit the invoice and they will release the withheld money. So far, my contractors (guys I know) have been working with me and I should come out with a little in my pockeeto. I even had 5, 100 foot trees removed. 2 soft maple and 3 white pine. Have 2 years to repair everything and submit invoices for release of any additional monies if needed.