Does All Perils Homeowners Coverage Include Wind and Hail?
Usually yes, but a separate wind, hail or hurricane deductible may apply instead of your standard one.
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Most policies written on an open perils or all perils basis cover wind and hail by default, since they pay for any damage except what's specifically excluded, and wind and hail aren't commonly on that exclusion list. What changes is how much you pay toward the claim. If your state or insurer uses a separate wind, hail or hurricane deductible, it replaces your regular one for that claim and is often a percentage of your dwelling coverage, 1% to 5%, rather than a flat $500 or $1,000. Your declarations page shows which deductible applies.
A percentage deductible costs more than it sounds like
On $300,000 of dwelling coverage, a 2% wind deductible runs $6,000, not $500. Comparing policies means comparing how each one sets that number, not just the premium.
What to do after wind or hail damage hits your house
Document the damage before anything gets moved or repaired. Photos and video of the roof, siding, windows, fences and anything else affected, taken before cleanup starts, back up the claim later. If a tree came down or the roof is actively leaking, you can make temporary repairs to stop further damage, like a tarp over a hole, but keep the receipts and the damaged materials if possible. Most policies require you to prevent further loss where reasonable, and they'll reimburse that kind of temporary fix.
Call to start the claim as soon as you can. Insurers don't require you to wait until the storm fully passes or until you've gotten repair quotes yourself. An adjuster will usually come out to inspect the house and estimate the cost of repairs, and that estimate is what gets measured against your deductible. If the damage is widespread after a major storm, expect the adjuster visit to take longer than usual since insurers are handling claims across a whole region at once.
Get more than one repair estimate if you can, especially after a hurricane or a hailstorm that hit a lot of houses at once. Storm damage brings out contractors who inflate quotes or push you to sign over your claim rights before an adjuster even sees the house. Your insurer's estimate and a contractor's estimate won't always match, and you're allowed to question the difference or ask for a second adjuster visit.
Keep a simple record as the claim moves. Write down who you talked to, when, and what they said about next steps. If the storm caused enough damage that you can't live in the house, check your policy for loss of use coverage, which pays for a hotel or rental while repairs happen. That's a separate part of the policy from the dwelling coverage that pays for the repairs themselves, and it has its own limit, usually a percentage of your dwelling coverage or a set dollar amount, shown on your declarations page.
What a falling tree or a tornado changes about your claim
Wind and hail are the most common storm claims, but a few situations work a little differently. If a tree falls on your house, the damage to the house itself is covered the same way as any other wind damage, under dwelling coverage, as long as the wind knocked the tree over. Removing the tree is usually covered too, up to a limit shown on your declarations page, often a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars. If the tree falls in the yard and misses the house, most policies don't pay to remove it at all.
A tornado is treated as wind damage, not as a separate category with its own deductible, unless your state or insurer specifically lists a tornado deductible alongside the wind and hail one. Hurricanes are different. Many coastal states require a separate hurricane deductible that applies once a storm is officially named or meets wind speed thresholds set by the state, and that deductible can stay in effect for days after the storm passes, covering damage from the outer bands as well as the core of the storm. Check your declarations page for how your state and insurer define when that deductible kicks in.
Total losses, where the house is destroyed or damage exceeds what's reasonable to repair, follow the same claims process but move toward a different outcome. Instead of itemized repair estimates, the adjuster assesses the full value of the house against your dwelling coverage limit. If your coverage limit is lower than what it actually costs to rebuild at today's material and labor prices, you cover the difference yourself, unless your policy includes extended or guaranteed replacement cost coverage, which raises that limit by a set percentage for exactly this situation. This is worth checking before a storm season starts, not after.
Claims involving both wind and water, which happen often in hurricanes, raise a separate question. A standard homeowners policy covers wind damage but not flooding from storm surge or rising water, which falls under a separate flood policy. When both wind and flood damage the same house, the adjuster has to sort out which part of the damage came from which cause, since each policy only pays for its own share. That split can be slow and is one of the more disputed parts of hurricane claims, so documenting the sequence of damage, what happened first and what followed, helps support an accurate split between the two.
Before the next storm
Find the wind, hail or hurricane deductible on your declarations page now, and check whether it's a flat dollar amount or a percentage of your dwelling coverage, so you know the real number before you need it.
