Your Hail Claim Was Denied - What Happens Next

By Taylor Grant, licensed public adjuster · Published September 15, 2020 · Updated September 24, 2026

A denial is a position, not a verdict. Most hail denials come down to three stated reasons, and each of the three is answered a specific way. Here is how to read the letter and what to send back.

The letter arrives and it is two paragraphs long. It cites a policy provision, it uses the phrase "wear and tear" or "no damage consistent with the reported date of loss," and it closes the file.

Read it as what it is: an opening position, written by someone who spent about half an hour on your roof and wrote what the file supported. The question is not whether they are allowed to say it. The question is what evidence they based it on, and whether that evidence survives a real inspection.

First, read the letter for the actual reason

A denial letter must tell you the basis. Underneath the language, hail denials are almost always one of three things:

1. "No damage." They looked and did not see enough to call it. This is a factual dispute about the roof.

2. "Damage, but not covered." Wear and tear, deterioration, manufacturing defect, cosmetic damage exclusion, or damage that predates the policy period. This is a coverage dispute.

3. "Damage, but not from this storm." The loss is real but they date it to an event outside the claim - often a prior storm, sometimes one you never filed. This is a causation dispute.

Which one you got determines everything you do next, and carriers sometimes state one while meaning another. If the letter is vague, write and ask them to identify the specific policy provision they are relying on and the facts they relied on.

Get the file

Ask in writing for:

• The complete claim file, including the adjuster's notes, photographs and the scope they built.
• The estimate and any engineer or expert report they used.
• The adjuster's CV or qualifications.
• The policy in force on the date of loss - digital copy, and a certified copy.
• The reserve set on the claim.

This is the single highest-value thing you can do, and most owners never do it. Their photographs frequently show damage their letter says is not there. An engineer report commissioned by the carrier often turns out to be a two-page form with a conclusion that does not match the images stapled to it. You cannot argue with a file you have not read.

Answer the reason they actually gave

If it is "no damage": get a real inspection documented properly - test squares marked and photographed, hits counted per square per slope, soft metals photographed close up, the storm-facing elevations at a low sun angle. Damage to gutters, vents, screens and the AC condenser is the strongest evidence in a "no damage" fight, because metal dents at lower energy than it takes to bruise a shingle mat. If the metal on your property is dented, something hit it hard.

If it is "wear and tear": age and hail are not mutually exclusive. An old roof that took hail is a hail loss on an old roof, and depreciation - not denial - is how a policy accounts for age. Ask them to reconcile their own photographs with the conclusion, and to explain how wear produces round, randomly distributed impact marks with fractured mat.

If it is "cosmetic": check whether your policy actually carries a cosmetic damage endorsement, and read exactly what it excludes. Many do not have one at all. Where one exists, it typically addresses appearance only - it does not exclude a shingle whose mat is fractured and whose remaining service life is gone. More on that here.

If it is "not this storm": pull the National Weather Service storm reports for the county and date, and for the date they are blaming. Where the roof has a documented prior claim, get the prior scope - a slope that was replaced after 2018 cannot have 2018 damage on it.

Then put it in writing, in their format

A phone call does not change a denial. What changes a denial is a written rebuttal that:

• Quotes the reason they gave.
• Answers it with evidence attached - photographs, test squares, storm data, code sections, the manufacturer's own literature where relevant.
• Delivers a line-item scope in the same estimating software they use, so the argument is about the loss and not about the format.
• States what you want and by when.

That is the point at which most of the denials we handle turn around, and it is also the reason most owners do not get them turned around: it is a professional document, and writing one takes access to the estimating software and the policy language.

If they hold the line

Three routes, and they are not mutually exclusive:

Appraisal. If they agree something is covered but you disagree on the amount, the appraisal clause in your policy resolves the amount without a lawsuit - each side names an appraiser, the two pick an umpire, and any two of the three set the number. It does not work for a flat coverage denial. How appraisal works.

The Division of Insurance. A complaint to Colorado's Division of Insurance at DORA does not order the carrier to pay, but it does force a written explanation into a regulatory file, and it is free.

A lawyer. Colorado has statutes addressing unreasonable delay and denial of benefits, C.R.S. sections 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116, which allow a policyholder to recover two times the covered benefit plus reasonable attorney fees and costs where the delay or denial was unreasonable. That is a real remedy and it changes how carriers behave. It is also a deadline-sensitive claim, so talk to a Colorado insurance attorney rather than waiting.

What not to do

Do not accept a small payment and sign a release to make it go away. Do not let the suit limitation in your policy run out while you exchange friendly emails. Do not re-roof the house and then try to prove what was there.

And do not assume the denial is wrong, either. Sometimes it is correct. We will tell you that - send us the letter and the estimate and you will get a straight answer either way, at no cost.

Keep reading