What does hurricane insurance cover?

It covers wind-related damage associated with hurricanes. Banks require homeowners to have hurricane insurance as part of their mortgage approval. There is no type of insurance that is specifically called “hurricane insurance.” Home insurance policies typically cover damage caused by strong winds, including hurricanes. However, your policy may have a separate deductible for damage caused by the hurricane.

The hurricane insurance deductible is sometimes higher than your policy's standard deductible and could be a percentage of one or more of your coverage limits. However, not all standard home insurance policies cover windstorms, so check with your insurer to see if you have coverage and if a separate deductible applies. If you're having trouble buying windstorm insurance through any of these companies, you can try buying it through an insurance association, such as Citizens Property Insurance Corp. In these cases, you must purchase windstorm insurance if you want wind and hurricane damage to be insured.

As a result, insurance companies began requiring hurricane deductibles in 19 states and Washington, D. If strong winds from a hurricane tear off your coating or shingles, for example, your policy will reimburse you for the damage. You can find out the deductible percentage of storm damage by visiting the statements page of your insurance policy. For the hurricane deductible to take effect, your area must experience a “triggering event,” such as a hurricane warning.

With hurricane deductibles, you can pay a specific percentage, usually between 1 and 5%, rather than a fixed amount, depending on your policy. Hurricane deductibles are different from regular home insurance deductibles and are based on a percentage of the value of the home. The insurance company will define what type of event triggers the hurricane or windstorm deductible to be applied. It may be slightly lower than the hurricane deductible, sometimes as low as 1% of the insured value of the property.

For a homeowner to have to pay a hurricane deductible, there usually must be a named hurricane in the area. If excluded, you may want to look for a separate wind insurance policy, which is usually a state insurance program. This information is not an insurance policy, does not refer to any specific insurance policy, and does not modify any provision, limitation or exclusion expressly set forth in any insurance policy. A home insurance policy is the first way to protect your home against a hurricane and can be supplemented by flood or windstorm insurance in certain states.

Leslie Kasperowicz is an insurance expert with four years of direct agency experience and more than a decade creating educational content to help insurance buyers make safe and informed decisions. On the other hand, in some areas that you don't consider hurricane zones, you may need a different windstorm policy.