Beth had had enough last fall. Her homeowners policy premiums just became too much. She had to find something cheaper. She found an insurance agent who was able to get her coverage for damage to her home that was substantially less expensive. She thought it was a standard homeowners policy. Aren't insurance policies all the same?
Then the hail storm came.
The storm hit late at night. The sound of hail pounding the roof was loud enough to wake her up. By morning, she found pieces of shingles scattered in her yard. Her gutters were full of roof debris, and water had leaked through the ceiling in one of the bedrooms. The storm damage was more than she had ever seen before.
Beth called her insurance company, before starting the temporary repairs that had to be done. That’s when she got the bad news. The claims adjuster informed her that her policy didn’t work the way she expected. The deductible was much higher than she thought, and her roof coverage limit wouldn’t pay enough to replace it. She had a major problem on her hands.
Beth isn’t the only Texas homeowner to run into this kind of trouble. Hail season is here again. If you don’t know what your homeowners insurance actually covers, you could end up just like Beth. Scrambling to figure out how to pay for a new roof.
Beth assumed her deductible was $2,500. That’s what she had in mind when she bought her policy and remembered from one of the documents. But when she filed her claim for hail damage, she found out that she had a separate hail and wind damage deductible. That separate deductible was based on a percentage of her home’s dwelling coverage value.
Her home was insured for $350,000, which seemed fair. Her wind and hail deductible was 2% of that amount. That meant she had to pay $7,000 before insurance would cover anything. The moment she heard that number, her heart sank.
Many Texas homeowners don’t realize their wind and hail deductible is now 2% or more for hail damage claims. For many years, the minimum deductible has been 1% of that dwelling value. But with the uptick in hail damage insurance claims over the last few years, the insurance companies have increased that amount for vast portions of the state.
Beth knew she couldn’t afford to let the storm damage sit, so she had to find a way to cover that cost of repairs. That’s when she ran into another problem.
Beth assumed that she had bought a replacement cost policy last year, just like most Texas homeowners. That has been the standard homeowners insurance policy for many years. But that has begun to change.
Beth's policy had something called a roof payment schedule. Since she had a more than 10-year old roof, her insurance company wasn’t going to pay for a full roof replacement. They were only going to pay for what her old roof was worth today according to their payment schedule.
Many home insurance policies in Texas no longer cover roof replacement at full cost if they are more than ten years old. Instead, they pay actual cash value (ACV), which means they have a deduction for depreciation. So even though Beth’s roof was fully functional before the storm, her insurance company said it had lost value over time.
This left Beth with a huge gap in coverage from the roof damage. She didn’t have enough to replace the roof, and she wasn’t sure what to do next.
Beth’s neighbor, Mike, had been living in their Amarillo neighborhood longer than she had. He told her that after the last few hailstorms, he had filed small claims for minor repairs. A couple of dents in the gutters. A few missing shingles.
At his last renewal, his insurance company refused to renew his policy. The agent said he had filed too many claims, and they no longer wanted to insure his home. Now, he was struggling to find another company to cover his house with all of those claim payments.
Beth was glad that she had not made any insurance claims prior to this one. She was unhappy with this claim process, but she now realized she needed to be smart about how she used her insurance in the future.
That’s when she realized she needed more than just a piece of paper to satisfy her lender. Beth discovered that she needed someone who could help her get her policy terms that actually worked for her.
Beth made her mistake by choosing the cheapest policy without looking at the policy limits. But she’s not alone. Many Texas homeowners don’t realize how much home insurance has changed in recent years outside of the price going up. Hail and wind deductibles are higher, roof coverage is more limited, and claims history can make it difficult to find new coverage when you need it.
The best way to avoid ending up in Beth’s situation is to talk to someone who actually understands Texas homeowners policies. You need coverage that protects your home from the impact of hail without leaving you buried in out-of-pocket repair costs.
That’s why homeowners turn to True Texas Home Insurance, available only through Insurance For Texans. Our friendly, independent insurance agents work with you to find the right coverage at the best price by shopping across the market for you. Since we live and work here, we understand what Texans need.
Beth’s story didn’t have to happen. If she had known what to look for in her policy, she could have avoided the stress and expense of an unexpected repair bill.
Hail season is here. If you don’t know exactly what your deductible is, how your roof is covered, or how claims could affect your future coverage, now is the time to find out.
Click the button below to get a Texas home insurance review today, before the next hailstorm hits.