Finally won my hail damage appeal after 8 months - here is what worked

Last April we had a major hail storm roll through our neighborhood. Quarter-sized hail, lasted about 20 minutes, dented my gutters and patio furniture pretty badly. I filed a claim expecting this to be straightforward. My insurer sent out an adjuster who walked the roof for literally 12 minutes and came back saying there was "no covered hail damage" - just normal wear and tear. They offered me $0.

I hired a public adjuster out of pocket (paid $350 for an inspection) and he documented 847 impact marks on the shingles using chalk spray and UV light. My insurer still denied it. So I filed a formal appraisal demand under my policy's appraisal clause - which I didn't even know existed until I read my full policy. The process took another 4 months but the umpire came out in my favor and my insurer ended up paying $22,400 for a full roof replacement plus gutter work.

Key things that helped: 1) Reading my full policy and finding the appraisal clause. 2) Getting an independent inspection before accepting any denial. 3) Hiring a PA who knew how to document impact damage properly. 4) Not accepting the first denial as final. I almost gave up after month 3. Don't give up.