Xactimate Wasn’t Low Enough: The Internal Claims Manual for Paying Even Less

If you have been on a Northern Ohio roof with a contractor estimate and a carrier estimate, you already know the gap. The contractor prices the job. The carrier prints an Xactimate. Then the check is still short.

That is not a new Ohio problem. What is new is the paper.

On Sep. 2, 2026, Chip Merlin published what he describes as an alleged Auto Club Group standard operating procedure for several AAA-related insurers (ACIA, MEEMIC, Carolinas, and ACICF). The document is titled “Standard Operating Procedure—Trueline Material Pricing Program.” It says it was updated Aug. 21, 2026, and became effective Aug. 27, 2026.

Merlin has not independently authenticated it. He invited TrueLine, Accuserve, Auto Club Group, Verisk, and ITEL to respond. We are not a party to his inquiry. The facts below are what Merlin says the SOP claims. This is not legal advice.

Source: Chip Merlin, Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog, Sep. 2, 2026. What if Xactimate is Only the Ceiling?

The formula: Xactimate minus a cut, every time

Merlin says the SOP is blunt. TrueLine pricing is “always formula-based”: take the current Xactimate material price and subtract a fixed category discount.

It is not a local bid that happened to come in lower. It is required to come in lower. Merlin says the SOP calls it “structurally impossible” for TrueLine to exceed Xactimate.

That is the whole point of this post. “We used Xactimate” is not the same as a full, fair repair. Xactimate is the ceiling. The payment is designed to sit under it.

Field adjusters don’t get to skip it

According to Merlin’s reading of the SOP, adjusters must apply TrueLine on eligible items. Opt-out is the exception: small repairs, specialized materials, remote locations. The bypass has to be documented.

If the price looks wrong, the override does not sit with the person on the roof. It goes to a manager.

Ohio homeowners already hear a version of this. A local inspect finds the damage. A later voice takes it off the estimate. The paper, if it is what Merlin says it is, is the instruction set for that later voice on materials.

Use your own supplier. Eat the difference.

Merlin says contractors can still buy from their own supplier. Then the SOP takes the money out of that choice. If that supplier costs more, there is “no additional consideration.” The contractor or the policyholder eats the difference, because the material could have been bought through TrueLine.

That is how a “market price” works when the market is a carrier program, not the yard that will actually deliver the shingles.

The discount is harder to see on the line

Merlin says original-price and discount tokens were stripped from line-item notes. The note now just says contact TrueLine.

The homeowner and the contractor no longer see what was subtracted. They see a number and a phone number for the fulfillment vendor.

TrueLine can stack with ITEL

Merlin says TrueLine (Accuserve) can sit in the same estimate as ITEL. Flooring disputes. Required asphalt-shingle and vinyl-siding pricing. Accessories on TrueLine. Roof and siding panels on ITEL.

One Xactimate file can be a patchwork of third-party discounts. We have already written about ITEL on Ohio matching fights. This is the same family of problem: the carrier estimate is not one price list. It is a stack.

The 60-day clock

Merlin says TrueLine’s price guarantee runs 60 days from the initial estimate. The SOP, as he describes it, does not give a real remedy if materials are late, mismatched, or the guarantee expires while the claim is delayed.

Ohio files wait on inspections, supplements, mortgagees, and weather. A 60-day clock that starts when the first estimate prints is not a promise the roof gets finished at that price.

What this means on an Ohio claim

Public adjusters exist because carriers can treat the industry-standard price list as a starting point to pay less.

If your contractor’s material cost is over the carrier line, if the estimate says contact TrueLine, if ITEL and a discount program are both in the same file, or if the first number will not finish the roof, treat that estimate as a file, not a finish line.

Photograph the damage before anyone tears it off. Keep the carrier estimate, the contractor estimate, and every letter. Read the line notes. Ask what was subtracted, and who has to eat it.

We cannot give legal advice. We cannot prove Merlin’s SOP is authentic. We can inspect, document, and put the real repair next to the carrier printout.

Get the file reviewed

Keathley Claims Consultants is a licensed Ohio public adjuster (license #1367111). We represent homeowners, not insurance companies. If the Xactimate is already short of the job, or a TrueLine / ITEL line is sitting under the actual material cost, call (419) 504-1601 for a free claim review before you cash a check that will not finish the work.