Texas Wind & Hail Coverage

Texas has recently seen changes with insurance carriers either declining to insure homes in higher risk areas or simply excluding the perils of wind and hail from homeowners insurance policies.

For homeowners who have a comprehensive homeowners insurance policy inclusive of wind and hail coverage, it is commonplace to find a separate deductible for ‘Wind and Hail’ and a separate deductible for ‘Other Perils’.

Most commonly, the Wind & Hail deductible is expressed in terms of a percentage of the Dwelling Coverage Limit listed on the policy;  therefore a Wind & Hail deductible of 2% on a Homeowners Policy with a Dwelling Limit of $250,000 would simply translate into a $5,000 deductible for claims filed due to the perils of Wind and Hail.  Similar to all other forms of insurance, a lower deductible generates a higher premium and a higher deductible generates a lower premium.

After Hurricane Celia in 1970, the Texas Legislature formed a Wind Association for the primary purpose of providing windstorm coverage to homeowners on the Texas coastline; through the years, the association has helped provide wind and hail for homes whose insurance carriers simply don’t underwrite the risk all over the State.

As a homeowner in Texas, rates have been substantially higher in recent years due to catastrophic storms which have been very successful in depleting premium collected by the insurance carriers. One cost saving feature may be to select a higher wind and hail deductible but homeowners are never better off if they give up the ‘Replacement Cost Value’ feature if available on any policy.