Did the Insurance Industry start the Stormchasing business model?

The Insurance industry started to use software programs such as Xactimate and many others, we were very heavy in Xactimate estimating, the problem being even though the industry uses a published price list,the insurance adjuster can and often does change the base prices of Xactimate program,this happened on many occasions when we worked the Storm Ike in Texas, then they disregarded what the program specified. The insurance adjuster would eliminate many iten so he could get the rock bottom price and if the contractor would not bend his or her way and they would lose the contract, many contractors tookthe jobs any way and shorted the consumer by using unqualified help secondary materials and the consumer ends up with a bad job and the roofing indutry ends up with a bad name. The only State that really works in favor of the consumer is Florida, many insurers will not due business in this state.The end result is that the insurers raise their rates beat the contractor to death and the consumer gets royally screwed, note not all insurer subscribe to this matter but many of them due. Texas insurers is probably one of the worst offenders it seemed to me that the Wind and storm Department had a tight control on the insurers say. That was one of the reasons that we pulled out of Texas right in the middle of the storm.

twill59 Said: Well somebody needs to tell that to the fellas out in the field.....and the agents Chuck. For starters.

Seriously, if the adjuster have nothing to do but spend OPs, then .........HERE WE ARE!

:laugh:

Ok I didn't understand this comment. :huh: apparently TomB did.For me... Like not getting a joke. What do the agents have to do with disbursing cat funds? Nothing Agents just sell .Adjusters spending O/ P? The comment is so disconnected. I'll challenge you to clarify. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Well somebody needs to tell that to the fellas out in the field.....and the agents Chuck. For starters.

Seriously, if the adjuster have nothing to do but spend OP's, then .........HERE WE ARE!

:laugh:

The insurance company do not like putting out huge sums of money for storms. That said they are first responders and provide relief from start to finish. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Ever Day

You hit it Ole Willie.....Prior to relocating to a state that res. roofing is pretty-much, solely accomplished through insurance.....We could set our watch to re-roofing res. sales, (BTW state licensing & lack-thereof, has something to do w/that, as well)

The auto body racket, is another sister-type industry.

I say, go back to putting it in the customers', (the one who pays the ins. premiums), ballpark.....Claims go up = prem's go up....it would correct itself.

Touchy, Touchy situation. When I was younger, I used to watch the storms roll in and hope there would be roof damage without personal injury or any structural damage.

Now that I'm a "little" wiser, when i see the storms coming I hope they completely miss my area with the exception of hard rain. Because a really hard rain is all that is necessary to bring in the work. Anything beyond that will bring in the stormers. Which will in turn reduce the market share once the storm work is all roofed up. And if your in it for the long run in your area, ( unlike the stormers ) then you're better off with the work being spread out over several years and not all done up at once.

Now, lets assume there was no such thing as roof insurance, or that the insurance companies would only pay a depreciated amount like say a 20 yr roof at 10 years old gets only 50% payout since that homeowner has already gotten half the life out of it.

Under these circumstances there is no way storm chasing outfits could recruit numerous door knockers to go around offering free roofs. There would be NO profit in it for them. This would effectively shut down storm chasing ( except in extreme cases where it would actually be needed) , save insurance companies a LOT of money and keep our premiums at a minimum. I am willing to guess that over 65% of all the roofs that have been replaced from "hail" damage over the years, had little to NO hail damage at all.

To try and make what has already become a long story shorter, I will just say that I don't know which came first, the chicken or the egg, but what i do know is that in recent years storm chasing has exploded. One thing led to another over the years until now days even the slightest little storm, ( If its displayed on the hail swath sites and it will be because that is how those sites get their money ) will bring in the stormers.

The whole deal needs an overhaul!

GKRFG....Is that a trick question? Insurance is big business....Big business emulates "government" antics, so-to-speak.

It can be a long-drawn-out discussion,(and most-likely, will, here),but the bottom line, is that most-definitely, the insurance industry, perpetuated through bureacracy-type in-effficencies/windows exposed/created for opportunistic/un-ethical behaviors, gave birth to the storm-chasing model.

Without a doubt.

I think when insurance companies raised deductibles the intent was to cause homeowners to think twice before they made a claim. Instead, it has caused the opposite effect. Every little hail storm that would not affect a well installed roof now becomes a "must immediately replace the roof" situation. Get in- throw a new roof on- and get out. Hence, the roofing industry has been turned over to the production roofer which is the storm chasing business model. The production roofer can cover deductibles because they don't do anything to improve the quality of the homeowner's roof. They don't tear off old felt; they don't pull nails; they don't repair decking; they don't replace vents or metal edge; sometimes they don't even install new felt and they down grade the shingle and ridge. Workmanship was thrown out in favor of speed. Use guest workers to install the roof and the CONtractors make a mint.

It is like when the shingle manufacturers came out with the light weight laminates. The intent was to provide an upgrade for 3 tabs. Instead, the light weights took over the heavy weight market.

They definitely influence pricing. It's a positive for the clueless that can only give away work and beat up their labor to turn a dime. Those that were running the industry into the ground in the 1st place just got a heck uva deal w/ Exactimate. Suddenly they are making above the going out of business rates per sq.

OTOH......for the rest of us, it is still the going out of business rate. Cut wages, cut benefits and work more hours while dealing with an industry that gets stupider and even more dis honest (!) every day

This is interesting. As with any industry there are bad and good company's .There are storm chaser that take pride in there work and make money.I think the market place created the need during large events. Locals couldn't cope with volume. Then there are the unions. Looked upon as a good thing because training. The same example applies about to much volume. During the months working The Super Storm Sandy local electric unions would not let outside electric company's in to help because they were not part of the local.. Electric power was delayed for many many weeks. It could have been restored quickly and relief to those suffering from effects of no power ie. gas stations not pumping fuel, people freezing no heat for the communities and families. Transportation shutdown ............etc. etc. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day