A flat deductible is easy to picture. You have a $1,000 deductible, the repair costs $9,000, the carrier pays $8,000. Most people assume their whole policy works that way.
On a Texas homeowners policy it usually does not, at least not for wind and hail. Those perils are commonly written with a percentage deductible instead, and the percentage applies to the dwelling coverage — the insured value of the house — rather than to the cost of the damage.
How the arithmetic actually works
Say the dwelling is insured for $400,000 and the wind and hail deductible is 2%. That is $8,000 out of your pocket before the policy pays anything, regardless of whether the roof claim comes to $10,000 or $60,000.
On a $12,000 roof, a 2% deductible on a $400,000 house leaves the carrier paying $4,000. The same roof under a flat $1,000 deductible would have seen $11,000 paid. Same damage, same roof, very different outcome — and the difference was decided years earlier, when the policy was written.
Why so many Texas policies are written this way
Texas sits under one of the most active hail corridors in the country. Percentage deductibles are how carriers keep writing business here at all: they shift part of a predictable, repeated risk back to the policyholder, which keeps the premium payable.
That is a reasonable trade, and it is not a trick. The problem is that it is often not explained. It appears on the declarations page as a number and a percent sign, and it does not become real until a storm comes through.
What to look at on your own policy
Find the declarations page — the summary sheet at the front — and look for a separate line for windstorm or hail. You are looking for three things: whether that deductible is a percentage or a flat amount, what it works out to in dollars against your current dwelling limit, and whether that number is one you could actually write a cheque for this month.
The last one is the point. A 1% deductible on a $250,000 house is $2,500. A 5% deductible on a $600,000 house is $30,000. Both are normal policies. Only one of them is a manageable surprise.
It is adjustable, within limits
Carriers offer a range, and a lower percentage is available on most policies for more premium. Whether that trade is worth it depends on the roof, its age, the deductible you could absorb, and what the premium difference actually is — which is a conversation rather than a rule.
If you are not sure which kind you have, send us the declarations page and we will read it back to you in plain terms. There is no charge for that and no obligation attached to it.