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How Much Will I Save on My Home Insurance If I Replace My Roof?

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Earlier this year, I called my insurance agent when the renewal notice came for our home owner’s insurance. The premium had gone up again and the coverage had gone down. By phoning in, I was able to reduce our costs considerably. One question they asked was when we last replaced the shingles on our roof. They hinted that a new roof would drop our insurance rate. Today, I’m phoning in to find out how much we’ll save on our home owner’s insurance rate because we have just replaced our 17-year-old roof.

Why Do I Need a New Roof After 17-Year When I Bought 30-Year Shingles?

I’ve discussed our roof before when he had some leaking only about 10 years after the pricey 30-year shingles went on. We discovered that the roofers had made a mistake and put too small vents into too large holes which left a gap for the rain to sneak into the house. It was easily fixed and the years passed by drily.

This spring, however, we noticed over the winter one section of our roof facing the heat and sun had lost a lot of its granules. Sure enough during a heavy, 24-hour long rain, water began to come in. The cardboard backing for the shingles had soaked up water like a sponge and eventually it started to work through them.

So it was time for a new roof. When we spoke with a variety of roofers, I discovered that 10-12 years is all they really expect 25- or 30-year shingles to last. So much for the accuracy of the names!

So What’s the Benefit of Getting the New Roof—Did I Save a Lot on My Insurance?

Now the new roof is on, I phoned our insurance company to ask them to update their file. And guess what? Our annual savings are: $23.

Yep. Just twenty-three dollars a year.

Sigh.

It’s going to take a LONG time to pay off the roof with that cost savings!

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How long has your roof lasted? Does your insurance company give you a discount for having a new roof? Please share your experiences with a comment.