Monsoon season ends on the calendar September 30 and starts again June 15. Somewhere in the eight and a half months between, pull out your homeowners declarations page and find the line for wind and hail.
On a lot of Arizona policies that line doesn't show a dollar amount. It shows a percentage, often 1 or 2 percent, and people read it and relax because 2 percent sounds like pocket change.
That percentage comes out in dollars against your current dwelling coverage, which is written at replacement cost, the amount it would take to rebuild the house, and it has nothing to do with the size of the claim. If your dwelling limit is $450,000 and your wind and hail deductible is 2 percent, you pay the first $9,000 of a hail claim before the policy pays a dollar. A roof claim that comes in under $9,000 is yours in full.
Some policies carry one flat deductible for every kind of loss. Others split it, a flat amount for things like fire and theft and a percentage for wind and hail. On the policies we write, the standard wind and hail deductible is 2 percent. We can also write it at 1 percent, or as a flat $1,000, $2,500, or $3,000, and the only answer that counts for you is the one printed on your page.
For a long stretch in this business I read people two numbers at the kitchen table, the premium and the dwelling limit, and moved on. The deductible lines were right there under my thumb. They wanted to be done and so did I. That was box-checking, and I did it with a smile.
The right deductible is one you could pay next August without touching the money you live on. If you're on a fixed income with most of your net worth in the house, that number may be lower than the one you carry now. A higher deductible does lower the premium, and that trade is fair when the cash is sitting there. When it isn't, the trade costs more than it gives.
Three things to check before June 15
- Whether your wind and hail deductible is a flat dollar amount or a percentage.
- What that percentage comes to in dollars against your current dwelling limit.
- Whether your dwelling limit still matches the cost to rebuild, since a higher rebuild number raises a percentage deductible right along with it.
If the number surprises you, call the office at (928) 499-6644 with your declarations page in front of you, and we'll walk every deductible on it with you, line by line.
More on Homeowners insurance in Arizona.