What hail and wind leave behind
Hail marks shingles with dark spots where the granules were knocked off, sometimes with a soft, bruised feel when pressed or a crack through the mat underneath. The clearest proof is often on softer metal nearby: dents in gutters, downspouts, roof vents and the fins of the air-conditioning unit. Adjusters look at those to confirm that hail big enough to do damage fell at your house.
Wind damage is easier to see from the yard: missing shingles, tabs flipped back, and shingles with a horizontal crease near the nail line where the wind bent them over. A creased shingle has lost its seal and will be the next to go even if it lies flat now. Fallen limbs add punctures and cracked decking, which is why the estimate carries $135 to $210 for a patch.
Some of what looks like storm damage is age. Blistering, granule loss spread evenly across the roof, and curling on old shingles are wear, and an adjuster will say so. A roof showing both gets paid only for the part the storm did.
The first days: photos, a tarp and patience
Photograph the roof from the ground, every dent in gutters and vents, and any stains or drips inside, and write down the date of the storm, since the claim is measured from it. If water is getting in, stop it. Most policies expect you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage, and the cost of a tarp is normally part of the claim, so keep the receipt. Emergency roof repair covers what a tarp-and-seal visit costs.
Hold off on permanent repairs until the adjuster has seen the roof, because a fixed roof removes the evidence the claim depends on. Roofers knock on doors after large storms, and some of them are good, but read anything you are asked to sign on the doorstep: some of those forms commit you to that contractor for whatever the insurer pays.
When the adjuster visits
The adjuster, or an inspector working for the insurer, walks the roof and decides what the storm caused. On hail claims they commonly mark a test area on each slope and count hits inside it, because the decision is made slope by slope. What comes back is a written scope: the squares to be replaced, plus items such as drip edge, flashing, vents and underlayment.
Have your own roofer there. A roofer who has already been up can point to damage the adjuster missed, and the contractor's quote can then be checked line by line against the insurer's scope. Missing items go back to the insurer as a supplement with photos. A written estimate from a local contractor before the visit gives you a scope of your own to compare, and an itemized roof estimate shows which lines that scope should have.
Repair or a whole roof
The figure at the top is for a repair. Beyond the shingles and the deck patch it carries felt and a roll of ice-and-water membrane, flashing, drip edge, sealant, nails and a bag for the debris. It leaves out gutters, siding, window screens, interior ceilings and any work on slopes the storm did not reach.
Insurers move to a full replacement when a repair would not restore the roof, and three things usually decide it. Damage spread across most slopes makes patching nearly as costly as replacing. Shingles that have been discontinued, or have weathered to a color nothing new matches, leave a visible patchwork; some states require insurers to pay for a reasonable match, while some policies limit what they owe for appearance, so read yours. And old shingles that crack when lifted cannot have new ones woven in without breaking more of the roof.
The type of policy matters as much as the damage. A replacement-cost policy pays to replace what was damaged, often in two installments with the second released once the work is done. An actual-cash-value policy deducts depreciation, so an old roof gets far less. If the claim does become a full roof, the roof replacement calculator shows what that should cost.
The deductible is yours to pay
In most states it is insurance fraud for a contractor to waive, absorb or quietly "cover" your deductible, and the money has to come from somewhere: an inflated claim or a thinner job than the one the insurer paid for. Your name is on the claim, so the risk is yours as well as theirs.
In hail and wind country, many policies carry a separate wind or hail deductible set as a percentage of the dwelling coverage, which can be much larger than the flat deductible on the rest of the policy. Check yours against the cost of the repair before filing. If a repair at $1,900 to $2,785 lands close to your deductible, paying for it directly can make more sense than putting a claim on your record.