Can my insurerrefuse to pay to replace siding that was not damaged but is no longer available in the correct color?
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Can my insurerrefuse to pay to replace siding that was not damaged but is no longer available in the correct color?
Our home was damaged by golf ball size hail last summer. I submitted a claim and it was paid with no questions. I later found that the roof of our house was also damaged. They sent an adjuster out and they paid for an entire new roof. My contractor then informed me that the siding color that we had was no longer available. There were 8 pieces damaged by the hail, all on the back of our house. I asked the insurance company to replace all siding on the back of our house and they refuse telling me that case law has decided that they are not responsible for color matching. What can I do?
Asked on June 7, 2011 under Insurance Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Unfortunately, an insurer only needs to pay for repairing actual damage--not for color matching. The fact that you won't like the color is not a covered loss. Your options are:
1) Simply accept the closest color you can find--it's on the back of your house, after all.
2) As above, but paint the siding--there are some good products out there, whcih can even cover siding.
3) Get the insurer to pay you what they would pay for the repairs; then pay the extra price to replace all siding yourself--i.e. go out of pocket (but for the reimbursement or offset for the actual damage) if the color matching is that important to you.
Good luck.
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