On a Crystal Coast home, the wind and hail deductible is usually the single number that decides what a storm costs you out of pocket. It is often written as a percentage of the dwelling limit rather than a flat dollar amount, it may apply only to named storms or to every wind loss, and on some policies wind is not covered at all and lives on a separate policy. Reading those three things on your own declarations page takes ten minutes and is worth doing before the season.
Percentage deductibles
Most homeowners are used to a flat deductible: a fixed dollar amount that comes off the top of a claim. Coastal policies frequently carry a separate deductible for wind and hail, and that deductible is often a percentage of the dwelling coverage limit. On a declarations page it may appear as a percentage with no dollar figure beside it. Multiply it out. A percentage of a six-figure dwelling limit is a five-figure deductible, and that is the amount you would pay first after a storm.
The trigger: named storm or any wind
Policies differ on when the higher deductible applies. Some apply it only when the National Weather Service has named the storm; a thunderstorm that takes shingles off in July would fall under the ordinary deductible. Others apply the wind and hail deductible to every wind or hail loss, named or not. The trigger is written into the policy, and it changes what an ordinary summer storm costs you.
When wind is excluded
Some coastal homeowners policies exclude windstorm entirely. In that case the homeowners policy handles fire, theft, liability and the rest, and a separate wind policy handles wind and hail. A homeowner with an exclusion and no separate policy has a gap exactly where the coast is most exposed. If your declarations page lists a windstorm exclusion, the next question is where the wind policy is, and what its deductible says.
Three policies, three deductibles
It is common for a sound-front or oceanfront home to carry three policies: homeowners, wind (if excluded from homeowners), and flood. Each has its own deductible, and after a single storm more than one can apply at once. The water that rose from the sound is a flood claim. The roof the wind opened is a wind claim. The deductibles stack, and the time to understand that is not the week the adjusters arrive.
What to check this month
Pull the declarations page. Find the wind and hail deductible, translate any percentage into dollars, and read the trigger. Confirm whether windstorm is covered or excluded, and if excluded, find the wind policy. Confirm that flood is written as its own policy. If any of those takes more than a few minutes to answer, bring the pages to us and we will go through them with you, with zero pressure.
