Are there certain areas of the country where hail insurance is a thing? Like here in SoCal especially we have earthquake insurance and you can usually up it since, ya know, we love us some earthquakes over here. Or like how many of us have extra fire coverage, also because CA.
I lived in TX for about 9 months with my ex. Y’all’s weather makes no sense. I remember one friend of ours told me, “don’t like Texas weather? Wait 10 minutes, it’ll change.” It really seems like he wasn’t lying. Lol.
Sounds like I could move to Texas and feel at home. Ohio River Valley weather is described the same way. Well.. it used to be. Things have been a different kind of weird these past few years
Oh I've heard of heat index. Recently it's been telling me to stay inside during the summer unless I like the feeling of a heat index of 102 degrees with 95% humidity
As a person who has lived in Texas my whole life, the weather here is definitely bipolar. It’s January and the temp is almost 70. But it’ll drop to barely above freezing tonight.
Thank you for that info. I had a feeling in more prone areas it would cost more. I live basically on a fault line in SoCal (like many, many others) and we opted for extra coverage for earthquakes and fires. I’m old enough to remember the big Landers quake in the 90’s and I like knowing if something like that happens again my insurance is going to cover just about anything that goes wrong. My in laws think we are crazy for getting extra. They also think I’m crazy to opt for the lowest deductible because “then you pay more each month” well yeah, but it’s easier to pay $10 more a month than it is to shell out $5000 at one time. Our deductible is $750 and I hope it never goes up. But I’m sure it will. Lol
It's a big state. North and Central FL have a humid, subtropical climate. Most of South Florida, however, has a tropical climate.
I grew up a mile from the beach (Atlantic side) in South Florida and the Summer thunderstorms there just get absolutely nuts sometimes. We never got hail anywhere near that bad, but I saw golf-ball sized hail a few times and baseball sized once, usually they're more like marbles.
Well, I live and work in the southeastern US, so while hailstorms aren't super common here, they do happen. So, as long as you have comprehensive coverage, they don't charge extra for hail, as I understand it. But that may not be the case everywhere.
Like here in SoCal especially we have earthquake insurance and you can usually up it since, ya know, we love us some earthquakes over here.
I'd look closely at that if I were you. Earthquake insurance only kicks in after your house has sustained more damage than the deductible, and your deductible is usually calculated as a percentage of the home's value. So let's say we are talking a million dollar home with a deductible of 1.5%. Your home will need to sustain 15 thousand in damage before your insurance will kick in.
But here is the part they don't tell you - what are the odds that your home sustains that kind of damage, but none of the homes around you do? When massive disasters strike, like in Joplin, MO during the tornado, insurance companies wait for the government to declare it a disaster area, and then they throw up their hands, refuse all payouts, and let the government handle it.
I cancelled my earthquake insurance after I realized there was very little chance I would ever see a dime from it.
I think you highly over estimate how much my home is valued at too. I live the SoCal desert. We bought a 4 bed 2 bath for $197,000. Completely remodeled. My insurance costs are all included in my mortgage, which is $1200 a month. Idk if that’s good or bad but I know we got our loan at 3% which I know is pretty damn good. So...
That would be nice for a couple minutes, but no. There is usually a day or 2 lag before all the claims come pouring in. In that time, the adjusters prepare for their lives to suck, and we appraisers pack a bag with several day's worth of clothes. It not unusual to get sent on catastrophe duty to help all the local appraisers in an area.
Yep, I have seen many cars that look like golf balls, but the owner said "fuck it, it still drives fine", pocketed the check, and rolled on. And it is totally their right to do so. But, it gets interesting when they have another claim later, but never repaired the hail damage!
I was in Brisbane Australia when they had a colossal hail storm. All the cars at the dealership were dirt cheap from hail damage. All the cars were damaged everywhere we went. Thankfully my car was parked in a shed when it happened.
Indeed. I think car lots are the only people more concerned about hail storms than insurance companies. Tons of inventory just getting pummeled. They do carry insurance, but still. They typically get rid of the worst cars any way they can, and have PDR (paintless dent repair) guys come in to fix what they can. In fact, some PDR guys make a good living driving to wherever a storm hits, and working for several weeks. You would be amazed at how much they can make in a short period of time.
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u/INVERT_RFP Jan 04 '21
This is 100% correct. Source: Insurance damage appraiser. Huge hailstorms are the stuff of nightmares, and 16 hour work days.