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Fence acv - new homeowner

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djdon

Member
What is the name of your state? CA

During a recent wind storm, part of my shared fence fell down. Neighbor is co-operative. I bought the house 4 months ago and have no idea about the age of the fence, other than that it definitely looks old but was stable and holding good. Estimates to replace the whole fence are ~7k.

My insurance is through farmers, and covers acv for fence. How do I know how old the fence is or what age farmers decides it to be? I haven't opened the claim yet, but if they say the age is same as age of house and basically beyond the fence's life, is there a way to question that?
 


doucar

Junior Member
Do you have any evidence that the fence has been previously either fully or partially replaced? How old is the House?
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
Download and install Google Earth Pro on to your computer. It has a feature where you can view historical imagery. There's an icon at the top that looks like a clock with a green arrow facing counter-clockwise. Click on it and it opens a slide bar that goes back year after year until about 1985. You might be able to see changes in the appearance of the fence or get to a year before it was there.

You can also talk to neighbors and see if they know.

Nothing every gets fully depreciated and an experienced adjuster will be able to tell its approximate age.

Also contact the city building department and ask for permit history on the odd chance that it required a permit.

You might consider only "repairing" the part of the fence that came down. A "repair" should not be depreciated. Talk to your adjuster and see which way works better for you.

If you can figure out how to link to a photo of your fence I'll be happy to take a look.
 
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djdon

Member
Do you have any evidence that the fence has been previously either fully or partially replaced? How old is the House?
I don't, even the reports at the time of purchase didn't mention anything about anything done to fence. House is over 50 years old.
 

djdon

Member
Download and install Google Earth Pro on to your computer. It has a feature where you can view historical imagery. There's an icon at the top that looks like a clock with a green arrow facing counter-clockwise. Click on it and it opens a slide bar that goes back year after year until about 1985. You might be able to see changes in the appearance of the fence or get to a year before it was there.

You can also talk to neighbors and see if they know.

Nothing every gets fully depreciated and an experienced adjuster will be able to tell its approximate age.

Also contact the city building department and ask for permit history on the odd chance that it required a permit.

You might consider only "repairing" the part of the fence that came down. A "repair" should not be depreciated. Talk to your adjuster and see which way works better for you.

If you can figure out how to link to a photo of your fence I'll be happy to take a look.
I checked on it, the earlist visible image is from 2004 and for the fence the earliest visible one is from 2007, it seems to be similar color. I'll check with neighbors in case they have better records.

When you say "adjuster", is that on the insurance side or the contractor who will do the work?

Attaching a couple of pics for the broken portion, there are another 2 sections which are leaning towards neighbor side, not sure if that was before or after the storm.

 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
When you say "adjuster", is that on the insurance side or the contractor who will do the work?
The adjuster from the insurance company.

Judging from the photos, the fence could be at least 15 or 20 years old.

Frankly, if I were adjusting the claim, I'd call it a repair and just pay the cost replace the section that blew down plus bracing the two adjacent sections less your deductible. Might not be worth making the claim.

I'd be amazed if you got a whole new fence from your insurance company. You might need one due to age, wear and tear but the wind only damaged one section and that's all that should be covered by your policy.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Check with the local municipality to see if a permit was issued for the fence.
 

zddoodah

Active Member
My insurance is through farmers, and covers acv for fence. How do I know how old the fence is or what age farmers decides it to be?
Well...basic logic would dictate that inquiry of your neighbor and the person(s) from whom you bought the house would be the first step in ascertaining the fence's age. Has your neighbor also submitted an insurance claim or does he/she intend to do so?

if they say the age is same as age of house and basically beyond the fence's life, is there a way to question that?
We have no way of knowing.
 

djdon

Member
Deductible is 1k. Few neighbors I checked with say it's atleast 15 yrs old..if not more.

I'll try to check with local muni for the permit.

Neighbor submitted claim few yrs ago and got the money from his insurance, but then he never got it replaced at that time.
 

djdon

Member
Thanks again. Even if I take into account the 2 other sections which are leaning (not really because of the storm), and insurance does agree to make them straight, I probably won't get much from insurance after deductible for these repairs. Really appreciate all your inputs and insights.
 

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