Increase in home insurance rates due to hail? (Austin, Atlanta: apartment complex, car insurance)

[RooCeleste]

I just got my renewal letter for my homeowner's insurance, through Travelers at American Casualty Insurance in Austin, and it says "We are adjusting your policy to reflect the greater chance of wind and hail storm damage in your area." It goes on to say that they will not continue to insure our home without us accepting this change in the policy.

We made a roof claim after one of the big, very damaging hail storms last year. The same storm did over $5000 worth of damage to one of our vehicles that I stupidly left outside the garage, and BROKE a kitchen window in our new house. This was the first and only claim we've ever made on a homeowner's policy, in all the years that we've owned homes together and separately. My husband has been with Travelers here in Austin (for both home and car insurance) since 2004, so it isn't like we just began using them when we built our new house.

Have any of the rest of you experienced this after making a hail claim recently? What can I do to contest it, or is this just one of the 'suck it up and let insurance continue to *********' sort of deals? I always thought that rates couldn't increase after making a claim based on an act of mother nature.

Thanks!

Update: Just before I posted, I just spoke to my agent who told me that all across the State of Texas, Travelers has made a mandatory change that all wind/hail damage deductibles will be 1% of coverage amount. Time to start shopping different companies....I don't appreciate this treatment after one claim! I have always been one to be loyal to a company, but now that I'm in my 40's, it's time to go with whoever treats me right!

[mm57553]

Just so you are aware, ALL new policies with all companies now have the 1% deductible for hail damage. Anyone who still has the $500 or whatever deductible policies have them because they have been grandfathered in. Although I encourage you to shop around, there simply are no insurance companies writing policies that have less than a 1% deductible for hail damage.

[RooCeleste]

Oh really? Well at least it isn't just them trying to stab us for making a claim. I'm still going to shop around if I have time, but at least I feel better about it now. Thanks for the note!

[mm57553]

They may have kept yours grandfathered at the old rate if you had not had the claim. But I think a claim, new policy, or even a home refinance (because it's a new mortgage), opens the door for them to raise it.

[10scoachrick]

I'm pretty sure just about everybody in our area of Avery Ranch got an increase. Darned near every house in our neighborhood(350 homes) ended up with a new roof(some TWICE in one summer!). Our company(Hartford) wrote checks in the neighborhood of $29K for our claim(no autos involved), so I'm not surprised to see a premium increase. We signed for the 1% deductible when we bought the house in '08. Not a lot of fun on a $425K house but that golf-ball sized hail can be a real bear! We'll stay with Hartford until something seriously cheaper comes along. We still pay less than we did on our half-as-big 50 year old house in Atlanta! Combined with auto coverage, we are a fair bit lower than our total in Atlanta.

Let's try to go a year or two WITHOUT a hail storm, yes?

[HappyTexan]

Last time I had to have my roof replaced I went metal.
The last 2 bad storms that passed through my area took off the neighbors roofs but not mine
Well worth the additional money I had to cough up.
But I realize not everyone can go metal..especially in development subdivisions.

[RooCeleste]

So apparently this 1% wind/hail deductible is standard now with the big companies (Travelers, Allstate, State Farm, Farmers, Farm Bureau, etc) which are the only companies I would even consider. When a policy is up for renewal, as we were, it will change to the new 1%. So it wasn't because we had a claim (that's illegal, my agent confirmed) but rather they're doing it all over Texas because of the frequency of the hail storms.

And I agree 10scoachrick - NO HAIL in 2011!! I wish we could do a metal roof, too, but we can't.

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by RooCeleste

So apparently this 1% wind/hail deductible is standard now with the big companies (Travelers, Allstate, State Farm, Farmers, Farm Bureau, etc) which are the only companies I would even consider. When a policy is up for renewal, as we were, it will change to the new 1%. So it wasn't because we had a claim (that's illegal, my agent confirmed) but rather they're doing it all over Texas because of the frequency of the hail storms.

And I agree 10scoachrick - NO HAIL in 2011!! I wish we could do a metal roof, too, but we can't.

Something you may want to look into for the future.
Metal roofs now come in a shingle look that HOAs just might approve.
I have the typical standing seam so can't tell you much about the shingles.

Below is a metal shingle roof.


More pictures here:
Metal Shingles - Photo Gallery | MetalRoofing.com

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Last time I had to have my roof replaced I went metal.
The last 2 bad storms that passed through my area took off the neighbors roofs but not mine
Well worth the additional money I had to cough up.
But I realize not everyone can go metal..especially in development subdivisions.

That's smart but due to all the cheap labor available in Texas most people still do asphalt shingles. When I was in New Zealand last year I noticed almost every house had a metal roof.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Something you may want to look into for the future.
Metal roofs now come in a shingle look that HOAs just might approve.
I have the typical standing seam so can't tell you much about the shingles.

If I were building new, I'd be all over a metal or plastic composition roof.(I'd also pick a roof design that didn't require over FIFTY squares of material--but that's another story'!)

It'll be interesting to see if HOAs become more flexible regarding roof materials. It's funny that the 'siding' materials can vary greatly in appearance(various brick colors, stone types, etc); but, for some reason, HOAs want the appearance of an apartment complex when it comes to roofing color.