What happens if you overpay your insurance deductible?
How overpayment happens
- Paying the deductible at signing and again on the final invoice
- Paying a balance that the insurer later covered through a supplement or released depreciation
- Paying for items the insurer included, such as permits or drip edge, as if they were upgrades
- Making a payment from the insurance check and a separate payment for the same amount
How to check your numbers
- Total all insurance payments: first check, supplements and released depreciation.
- Add your payments: deductible and any upgrades you chose.
- Compare the sum with the final contract price.
If insurance plus your payments exceed the contract price, you have overpaid, unless the extra was for agreed additional work.
Getting it back
Ask the contractor in writing for a reconciled invoice and a refund. If the insurer overpaid, for example releasing depreciation for work that cost less than the estimate, the insurer may ask for the difference back. Keep the whole file.
What is not an overpayment
If the final roof costs less than the insurer's estimate, you do not get to keep the difference as a reduced deductible. Your deductible stays the same, and on a replacement cost policy the insurer pays only what the work actually cost. In Georgia, a contractor cannot rebate any part of your deductible.
Related: recoverable depreciation, supplements and can a roofer pay your deductible.