Does Home Insurance Cover Hail Damage?

Does homeowners insurance cover hail damage to my roof?

When a hailstorm hits your home, your roof takes most of the impact. What happens when there are holes in the roof, missing shingles, or other structural damage as a result of a storm? Most home insurance policies include coverage for wind and hail damage.

The wind and hail provision in your policy may have its own deductible. Breaking the wind and hail component out like this allows insurance carriers to provide policies at affordable levels in these states by sharing some of the risk expense with policyholders.

Confirm with your agent that your home insurance policy does not exclude wind and hail damage if you are uncertain about your coverage.

When is hail damage not covered by home insurance?

Wind and hail insurance policies typically exclude minor storm impacts that are considered ‘cosmetic’ effects that do not cause structural damage to the home. Policies may also be written to avoid their use for ‘maintenance’ fixes, such as cases where a homeowner decides they want a new roof only for aesthetic reasons.

Insurance companies will also be diligent in keeping watch for potentially fraudulent claims that may be driven by suggestions from unreliable contractors who ‘chase storms’ and recommend so-called ‘free’ roof replacements to homeowners who may not know better. These types of claims are unlikely to be approved, since making deceptive claims on insurance is considered fraud and is illegal for both parties involved.

How do wind and hail deductibles work?

The deductible is the portion of your insurance claim payout that you are responsible for covering before the insurance company provides any funds to complete your repairs.

Deductibles can be calculated in different ways. Some are priced at a standard, ‘flat rate’ that rarely changes–this might be $1,000 or $2,500 for a home policy.

More commonly, especially for wind and hail deductibles, they are calculated as a percentage of the value of the home. If your $400,000 home was covered by a policy with a 3% wind and hail deductible and you filed a claim after a severe hailstorm left your roof riddled with holes, the deductible amount you owed would be $12,000, out of your pocket.

Depending on the age and style of your roof and the type of wind/hail coverage, a percentage wind/hail deductible could mean you’d be paying for the majority of your own roof repairs, even with insurance in place.

How can I get help covering my wind and hail deductible?

In cases where wind and hail coverage carries a prohibitively expensive deductible, an additional, standalone policy can offer support for covering the deductible and related costs that come with weather damage to a home.

Sola’s Wind and Hail policy provides financial support for owners who need to file a home insurance claim to cover damage to their home from a recent wind or hail weather event.

The payout from a Sola claim can be used in parallel with an existing homeowners policy in several ways:

To help cover the cost of a high or percentage-based deductible
To cover the gap between the cost of repairs and the payout amount from an ACV coverage home policy
To avoid out-of-pocket spending for related expenses from repairs.

ACV vs. RCV roof coverage - what’s the difference?

A Sola policy can be written for any amount from $2,000 to $25,000 to match the homeowner’s wind and hail deductible down to the dollar, meaning that making a claim on a homeowners policy and a Sola policy at the same time could result in a complete repair of any wind and hail damage their home had sustained with no payments made out of pocket.

FAQs

Will a wind/hail claim raise my home insurance rates?

A Sola Insurance claim will not result in increased rates or a ‘non-renewal’ of your Sola policy. Sola does not report claims to the CLUE or any other loss history database, protecting your insurance history from marks that could result in price increases elsewhere or difficulty getting the best rates from other insurers.

How do I file a claim for wind/hail damage?

You can file a claim on your Sola Insurance policy without touching your traditional home insurance policy. You can also file a claim on each policy simultaneously, using the payout from your Sola policy to cover the owed deductible for the homeowners policy. Visit our Claims page for more information on filing a claim with Sola.