We are used to hearing, "Why is home insurance so expensive in Texas?"
Those having joined us from out-of-state love many cost savings found here in the great state, but this cost can catch many unaware.
Why not look at what makes up that cost right here?
So Why Is Home Insurance So Expensive In Texas?
Home insurance premiums in Texas are some of the most expensive in the United States of America. Why? There's a few schools of thought, but we'll share the four main reason home insurance premiums are higher than what you'll find in other states:
1. Hail
North Texas provides a lot of opportunity for hail storms to dent your house and automobiles. The National Weather Service did a plot of the large hail events over the last 50 years and the area showing the most activity had a concentration right over North Texas. You'll see this marked in dark blue below.
Since there is a lot of population density found in that blue blob area, including Grapevine, this means a lot of claims for hail in our area. Large property losses correspond with higher premiums.
Because Texas is a large state, we aren't just confined to major storms in the North Texas area. The medium shad of blue denotes a lot of other hail storm activity.
2. Hurricanes
You may not think about hurricanes effecting your cost of insurance if you liv in the panhandle. You definitely think of it effecting your premium cost if living in Galveston, Corpus Christi, or Houston. With 367 miles of of coastline along the Gulf Coast and the inland areas leading to it, that's a lot of property with the potential to be damaged in a big, gusty way.
Hurricane Harvey was not too long ago, after all. That was and still remains catastrophe beyond full recovery.
Unfortunately, what happens on the Gulf Coast doesn't stay on the Gulf Coast. If you live in Abilene, you get to take on the cost of that risk as well.
3. Wildfires
If rain rocks and hurricanes aren't enough, wildfires are prevalent also. The Hill Country is a gem of Texas and it's also prone to being nature's kindling.
Large land areas affected by brush fires can impact homes when those fires burn out of control. There is enough wildfire activity here in Texas to warrant a live tracker map to keep watch.
This is not a problem confined to California or mountain states. We see this activity causing an increase to premiums also.
4. Fraud
Nobody likes frauds or cheaters here in Texas. Back during what made Texas the great state it is, these kind of folk would push up daisies outside the saloon if caught. We don't like cheaters in our parts and would run them out of town if we could.
Unfortunately, dishonest practices by roofing companies where they've inflated claim amounts to prevent homeowners from paying a deductible to garner their business was widespread at one point.
That's insurance fraud, plain and simple. It doesn't matter if your neighbor and their roofer did that, it's still fraud.
You agreed on your insurance application to pay a deductible as part of a contract.
For you not to be charged your deductible (which is usually a few thousand dollars depending on your dwelling amount), the roofer would have to inflate the claim amount for them to make enough money to cover their margins.
That few thousand has to come from somewhere and if not from you or the roofer dropping their prices (not going to happen) it is coming from the insurance carrier by way of defrauding them.
The fraudulent math is simple. If 100,000 homeowners were to make a claim and end up not paying the $2,500 deductible, home insurance carriers are losing out on $250,000,000.
You can guarantee insurance carriers pass this loss down to you in the form of higher premiums.
How Can I Keep Costs Down?
You can keep costs down in several ways. We help families do this every day. Here's a short list on a few actions to take.
- Document information about your new roof for a discount
- You should bundle home and auto policies
- Raise your deductible levels
- Don't make claims below your deductible amount
- Every 2-3 years, shop your rates
Your local, independent insurance agent will help you find ways to keep costs down because of our access to a wide marketplace of solutions. We can also review your coverage to see where you're at.
Click the blue button and we'll get to work!
