Hail damage to your roof? Here is what to do next.

Start here, before anyone touches the roof.

Photograph what you can see from the ground with today's date. Keep anything the storm knocked loose — a piece of shingle in the yard is evidence. Do not let anyone begin a repair, and do not sign an authorisation that assigns your claim to somebody else.

The first documented inspection becomes the baseline the whole claim is argued against. A roof that has already been worked on is a roof nobody can assess.

Do I call my insurance or a roofer first after hail?

Either is allowed, and both start a clock you cannot stop.

Calling your insurer opens the claim, which is generally good: filing a proof of loss pauses the limitation period while the carrier reviews (215 ILCS 5/143.1). It also sends their adjuster, whose assessment becomes the settlement unless somebody documents a different one.

Calling a contractor gets you an opinion on the roof, not a claim. Be careful what you sign: some authorisations hand over the right to deal with your carrier directly, which is a bigger decision than it looks on the page.

Either way, get the damage independently documented before the record is set. That is the call to make first.

How do I know if hail damaged my roof?

Look at the metal, not the shingles. You can do this yourself today, from the ground.

Hail marks soft metal before anything shows on a covering. Check gutters and downspouts, the metal wraps around windows, vents and flashing, and the fins on your air conditioning condenser. Dents there are not wear — metal does not weather into that shape.

Then look at your neighbours. Hail falls in swaths rather than on single houses, so homes nearby going under scaffolding after the same storm is the strongest free signal you will get. If you find dented metal or a re-roofing street, there is something on your roof to inspect.

What the inspection is for

The dispute in a hail claim is almost never about whether you are covered. It is about how much damage there is — and that number depends entirely on how carefully somebody looked.

Damage to a roof is frequently invisible from the ground and difficult to assess from a driveway. The carrier sends one adjuster, who forms one opinion on one visit, and that opinion becomes the settlement unless somebody documents a different one.

Call us if: the estimate came in just under your deductible so you collect nothing; the carrier approved a repair where neighbours with the same roof age and the same storm are getting full replacements; the scope leaves out work the job genuinely requires; or the claim was denied on an inspection that took ten minutes from the ground.

How long you actually have

Illinois sets no statutory deadline for filing a property insurance claim. The real limit is written into your own policy — the suit limitation clause, which in most Illinois property policies gives you about one year from the date of loss. Your policy controls, so read yours rather than trusting a number on a website, including this one.

One thing shifts that clock. Under 215 ILCS 5/143.1, the limitation period is suspended from the date you submit a proof of loss until the carrier formally denies the claim. Time spent waiting on the insurer's decision is generally not time spent burning your window.

So filing early does more than start the repair. It also stops the clock while the claim is under review — which is exactly backwards from how most people assume it works.

If you are near the one-year mark

The closer you get to the limitation date, the fewer options remain. A policyholder who waited eleven months is in a materially weaker position than one who called at month three.

Physical evidence degrades on the same schedule. Soft metal dents oxidise, granule loss gets attributed to age, and repairs done in the meantime destroy the proof. If a storm hit your area months ago and you have done nothing, call now.

A denial is not the end

Denials are frequently scope decisions wearing different clothes: the inspector did not find damage, so there is nothing to cover. A denial based on an assessment that missed damage can be revisited once somebody documents what was missed.

There is also the tolling rule above. If you filed a proof of loss and the carrier took months to deny it, that period generally did not count against your limitation window — so a claim that looks expired on the calendar often is not.

Common questions

How long do I have to file a hail claim in Illinois?

There is no state-law deadline. The limit comes from your policy's suit limitation clause, which is typically about one year from the date of loss in Illinois property policies. Under 215 ILCS 5/143.1 that period pauses between your proof of loss and the carrier's denial. Treat one year as an estimate and read your own policy — its terms control, not a general rule.

My roof looks fine from the ground. Is an inspection worth it?

Often, yes, because that is not where hail damage shows first. Impacts register on soft metals — gutters, downspouts, vents, flashing — before anything is visible from a driveway, and bruising on shingles can be felt more reliably than it can be seen. A roof that looks untouched from the ground is the normal starting point for a legitimate hail claim, not evidence against one.

The carrier already paid me. Can the claim still be reopened?

Frequently. A supplement is the standard mechanism for damage or scope discovered after the first estimate, and carriers process them routinely — it is not an unusual or hostile request. Payment closes the file, it does not close the claim. Keep every document you received, because the original estimate is what any supplement gets argued against.

My claim was denied. Is that final?

Not necessarily. Many denials rest on an inspection that found no damage rather than on a coverage exclusion, and that is a factual finding, not a legal wall. It can be revisited if a documented reinspection shows something the first one missed. Check the denial letter for which kind you received — the two are very different problems.

Will filing a claim raise my premium?

Not in the way most people assume, and the assumption is expensive. Homeowners rates are set by rating territory, not house by house. After a hail event the carrier reassesses the territory, and that reassessment reaches your area whether or not you personally filed — so declining to file does not exempt you from it. It means paying it with a damaged roof. Weather losses are also rated differently from at-fault ones: hail and wind are acts of God, you did not cause them, and a single weather claim is not the pattern that moves an individual rate. Be clear about the limits, though, because they are real. Multiple claims inside a three to five year window can affect your individual rate; claims stay on your CLUE report for as long as seven years; and filing can reset a claim-free discount you have been building. It can also run the other way — Consumer Reports notes that in roughly twenty hail-prone states a roof replacement can trigger a roof-age discount, and at least one large national insurer advertises a substantial discount for impact-resistant roofing in some states, usually conditional on submitting a certification form. None of that is a prediction about what your carrier will do. Ask your agent how they rate weather losses and what a new roof unlocks, then decide.

What does a public adjuster cost?

Compensation is set by a written contract you sign before any work begins, and Illinois regulates what public adjusters may charge and how those contracts must be written. Ask for the fee terms in writing up front. Anyone unwilling to put them in the contract before starting is telling you something useful.

Do I have to use a public adjuster at all?

No. You can work your own claim, and for straightforward losses that is often the right call. You can also change your mind later — bringing someone in at the supplement stage, after a first estimate has come in short, is common. Nothing about handling the early part yourself forecloses getting help afterwards.

A storm hit my area last year. Is it too late?

Maybe, and the answer depends on your policy's limitation clause and on whether you ever filed a proof of loss. If you filed and the carrier later denied, the tolling rule in 215 ILCS 5/143.1 may mean less of your window elapsed than the calendar suggests. If you never filed at all and you are close to a year out, assume you are near the end of it.

Prefer not to call? Text 847-208-8380 or email tom.jtpa@gmail.com

Hail claim help by county: Cook County · DuPage County · Kane County · Lake County · McHenry County · Will County

Claim guides: Condo & townhome claims · Historic district roofs · Commercial roofs · Hail damage or wear? · Cosmetic or covered? · Denied claims · Supplements · Did hail damage my roof?

Recent storms: July 27 2026 storm

Sources: Where these statements come from

A roof replacement can trigger a roof-age discount in roughly twenty hail-prone states, and a large national insurer offers a substantial impact-resistant roofing discount in some states, subject to a certification form. https://www.consumerreports.org/home-garden/roofing/how-to-protect-your-home-from-hail-damage-a1082939763/ (checked 2026-07-27)