10 September 2026 · Insurance
Can a roofer pay
my deductible?
It gets offered at the door every storm season, and the honest answer is more useful than the one most homeowners are given.
10 September 2026 · Insurance
It gets offered at the door every storm season, and the honest answer is more useful than the one most homeowners are given.
No, and the reason is worth understanding. Pennsylvania has no statute that names roof deductibles specifically, which is why the pitch keeps working here. What it has is an insurance fraud statute. A contractor who absorbs your deductible is billing your carrier for a contract price you never paid, and that is a false statement material to a claim.
The law that applies
Pennsylvania's insurance fraud statute makes it an offence to knowingly, and with intent to defraud, present a statement in support of a claim that contains false, incomplete or misleading information about anything material to that claim. The grading is a felony of the third degree, and the statute also carries civil penalties that start at 5,000 dollars for a first violation.
Your deductible is the share of the loss your policy says you carry. When a contractor says he will eat it, the invoice still goes to the carrier at the full amount. The carrier pays out on a price the homeowner was never charged. The number on that paperwork is not true, and the person whose name is on the claim is you.
This is different from a discount honestly given and honestly documented. A contractor can charge whatever he likes for the work. What he cannot do is tell the carrier one number and you another.
How the pitch is usually worded
Straight answers
You pay it, to the contractor, as part of the job.
A carrier's first payment is normally the claim amount minus your deductible. That gap is your share and it is expected to be paid.
Financing exists for that, and it is the lawful version of the same outcome.
There is a financing page with the options. Spreading a deductible over payments is fine. Pretending it was paid when it was not is the problem.
The claim is in your name, which is the part nobody mentions at the door.
The contractor is exposed too, but the homeowner is the claimant on the paperwork. That is a poor position to be put in by somebody you met on a Tuesday.
Take it as information about how they work, and keep looking.
Somebody willing to put false numbers in front of an insurance company on day one is telling you something about the rest of the job. There is a longer guide on checking out a roofer before you sign.
General information, not legal advice. This describes how 18 Pa.C.S. section 4117 is written and how it applies to a common sales pitch. Your policy and your circumstances are your own, and questions about either belong with your agent or a lawyer.
Free inspection and a written scope you can hand to your carrier without worrying about what is on it.