Wind storm insurance claims - am I missing something?

[Greg Troester]

So we bought our current live-in-rehab house prior to the big windstorm that swept through the SL Valley, tearing off roofs, ripping down trees, and everything in between. Ever since then, we've been contacted by multiple roofers who work the insurance angle (we can get you a deluxe roof for your deductible, etc.).

Here's the thing: the roof is original from 1978 and was trashed long ago - shingles were already peeling, vines had wrecked havoc, gutters are falling off... this thing needs the works. It's a rehab - what else can I say?
It's just taken this long to get a roofer to commit and (hopefully) show up next week for a re-roof. I can't wait for two reasons, now: peace of mind with a new roof and no more sales calls!

My question is: am I totally missing the boat here? Would it really be legitimate to claim on a roof that, sure, suffered some damage because of the windstorm, but was trashed prior? It just doesn't seem right to me. Had a tree gone through it, then that's a different story, but I've got to feel good about my decisions when I go to sleep at night... This last guy was just relentless, to the point where I now question his ethics, when I gave him the whole backstory and he still said "why would you pay when you don't have to?".