Hail is a covered peril, not a separate policy
Hail damage to a house is covered under a standard homeowners policy, and no separate hail policy is sold or needed. The most common policy form, HO-3, covers the dwelling on an open-perils basis — the insurer pays for any sudden, accidental physical loss unless the policy specifically excludes it — and personal property on a named-perils basis, where hail is one of the named perils, alongside fire, lightning, windstorm, explosion, theft, vandalism, falling objects, the weight of ice and snow, and sudden water discharge from plumbing or appliances. A roof struck by hail, a window broken by hail, siding dented by hail: all of these are, in the ordinary case, covered losses under the policy the homeowner already holds.
The reason hail earns its own guide, rather than a paragraph inside the homeowners guide, is that hail claims are the most disputed claims in homeowners insurance. The dispute is rarely about whether hail is covered — it is — but about three questions the policy answers in fine print: how much the deductible is, how the roof is settled, and whether the damage is functional or cosmetic. Each of those questions can change the payment from the full cost of a new roof to nothing at all, on the same storm, on the same roof. A homeowner who understands the three questions before the storm will not be surprised by the adjuster's answer after it.
The same storm that hails on the house hails on the cars, and the cars are a different claim. Hail damage to a vehicle falls under the comprehensive portion of the auto insurance policy, which covers non-collision events like hail, wind damage, falling debris, theft and fire. The home policy does not cover the cars, and the auto policy does not cover the house, and the two claims have different deductibles — the home policy's wind and hail deductible for the roof, and the auto policy's comprehensive deductible for the cars. Report each to the right insurer, and do not let a single storm become a single confused claim.
The wind and hail deductible
The deductible is the first surprise in a hail claim, and it is the largest. In hail- and wind-exposed states, many homeowners policies carry a separate wind and hail deductible written as a percentage of the home's insured value, rather than a flat dollar amount. The Insurance Information Institute puts the usual range at 1% to 5% of the dwelling cover, and higher in some high-risk coastal areas. Because it is a percentage of the house, not of the roof, it can swallow most of a roof claim: a 2% wind and hail deductible on a $300,000 home is $6,000, whatever the roof costs, and on a $600,000 home it is $12,000. The deductible is calculated as the percentage times the dwelling cover — the Coverage A amount on the declarations page — not times the claim, and that arithmetic is the part most homeowners do not do until after the storm.
The declarations page should show two deductibles: the all-other-perils amount, a flat dollar figure, and a wind, hail, named-storm or hurricane deductible, usually a percentage. A roof claim from hail uses the wind and hail one, not the flat one. A fire or theft claim on the same policy uses the flat one. The difference between the two is the difference between a claim that pays and a claim that does not: a roof repair that costs $5,000 is fully covered after a $1,000 flat deductible, and not covered at all under a $6,000 percentage deductible. Check both figures before storm season, and check whether you can pay the percentage deductible from savings — if you cannot, the policy is not the right one, whatever the premium saving that bought it.
In some states and some policies the wind and hail deductible is a flat figure rather than a percentage, and in some it is a percentage only for named storms or hurricanes, with hail claims under the flat deductible. The trigger and the form are in the policy wording, and they vary by insurer and by state. Ask the insurer in writing which deductible applies to a hail claim on your policy, and get the answer as a dollar figure on your house, not as a percentage in the abstract. A percentage is easy to agree to and hard to pay; a dollar figure is the reverse.
Functional damage, cosmetic damage and the roof's age
The second surprise in a hail claim is the distinction between functional and cosmetic damage. Functional damage is damage that stops the roof doing its job: cracked or broken shingles, missing granules that expose the mat, punctures that let water in. Cosmetic damage is damage that changes how the roof looks without stopping it working: dents or pits on a metal roof, for example, where the roof still keeps water out. Some policies include an endorsement stating that if hail dents or pits the roof but the roof still keeps water out, the insurer will not pay for repairs. The exclusion is usually visible in the policy wording, and it is usually not visible in the sales material — which is why it surprises people. Before buying, ask whether the policy has a cosmetic-damage exclusion, and what it covers: a metal roof with a cosmetic exclusion is a roof that can be hailed on, visibly damaged, and not paid for.
The roof's age is the third surprise, and it works through the settlement method. A standard policy covers a roof damaged suddenly by a covered peril such as hail, wind, a falling tree or fire, if a repair is not reasonable — and it does not cover a roof that is simply old or worn, because standard policies exclude wear and tear. On an older roof an actual cash value policy deducts depreciation, so the payment is the replacement cost minus the depreciation for the roof's age, and the owner pays the rest. The site's guide to ACV versus RCV works through the difference in full. A roof that is twelve years old on a twenty-five-year shingle schedule has lost a substantial part of its value to depreciation under an ACV settlement, and the payment may be far below the cost of a new roof. A replacement-cost settlement pays what a new roof costs, without deducting for depreciation, and it is the settlement to ask for — and to check on the declarations page, because some policies settle the dwelling at replacement cost and the roof at actual cash value.
Adjusters check hail and wind reports for the address after a storm, and the date, size and direction of the hail are part of the claim record. The adjuster's inspection distinguishes the storm's damage from the damage that was already there: blistering, thermal cracking, foot-traffic scuffs and manufacturing defects are not hail, and they are not covered as hail. A roof that was already deteriorating before the storm will have the pre-existing damage excluded from the claim, and the policy pays for the hail's damage, not for the roof's age. Keeping the roof maintained, and keeping records of inspections and repairs, is the practical preparation that makes the adjuster's job — and the claim — simpler.
What the adjuster looks for, and what to do after hail
After a hailstorm, the adjuster looks for a pattern, not a single dent. Hail damage is usually visible across the roof's slopes, on the soft metals — vents, flashing, gutters — and on the siding and windows on the side the storm came from. The adjuster will look for the size of the dents, the number per square, the condition of the shingles, and whether the damage is functional or cosmetic. The inspection is the claim, in the practical sense: the payment follows the adjuster's report, and the report follows what the adjuster can see and document. Be present for the inspection if you can, point out the damage you have found, and ask the adjuster to explain the findings before they leave — a finding you do not understand at the inspection is harder to dispute later.
Document the damage before anything is repaired, from several angles, and keep the photographs with the date. Do not climb on a damaged roof yourself — that is the adjuster's job, and a roof damaged by hail is a roof that may not hold your weight. Cover broken windows and tarp a leaking roof as emergency repairs, and keep every receipt: emergency repairs to prevent further damage are part of the claim, and the insurer expects them. Notify the insurer promptly, and understand the adjuster inspection and how the deductible is paid before agreeing to a repair route. Do not sign a repair contract that assigns the claim to the contractor without understanding what you are signing, and do not accept a settlement before the full extent of the damage is known.
If the claim is denied or underpaid, the dispute route is the same as for any homeowners claim: internal review with the insurer, mediation where the state offers it, a complaint to the state insurance department, and, in the last resort, the courts. The site's Florida denied-claim guide explains the process in one state — 14 days to acknowledge, 90 days to pay or deny, and free mediation through the Department of Financial Services — and the pattern in other states is similar in shape, with different numbers. A disputed hail claim is often a dispute about whether the damage is functional or cosmetic, or about the roof's age and depreciation, and both disputes are decided on the policy wording and the adjuster's report — which is why the wording and the report are the documents to have in front of you.
Hail, the roof and the rest of the house
Hail does not only damage the roof. Siding, windows, gutters, downspouts, air-conditioning units and skylights are all damaged by hail, and they are covered under the same policy, subject to the same deductible and the same settlement method. Interior damage from rain is covered only if hail first created an opening in the roof or wall, allowing the moisture inside — the same rule that applies after a tornado, and the same trap for the unwary: a house whose roof survives but whose windows leak in the storm may find the water damage is not covered, because the water did not enter through an opening the hail created. The rule is in the policy wording, and it is worth reading before the storm rather than after it.
The roof's age and material change the claim in ways that are worth knowing before buying. A metal roof is more likely to show cosmetic damage — dents that do not affect its function — and more likely to be subject to a cosmetic-damage exclusion. An asphalt shingle roof is more likely to show functional damage — cracked shingles, lost granules — and more likely to be settled at actual cash value once it is old. A tile or slate roof is more likely to crack than to dent, and the repair may require matching tiles that are no longer made, which raises the question of whether the whole slope must be replaced to match. None of these are reasons to choose a roofing material by insurance alone, but all of them are reasons to read the policy against the roof you actually have, rather than against a generic house.
The tornado guide on this site is the companion to this one: tornadoes and hail come from the same storms, and the same policy covers both, under the same wind and hail deductible. The hurricane guide covers the named-storm deductible, which is a different trigger for a different kind of storm. Read the three together before storm season, and check the declarations page against all three: the flat deductible, the wind and hail deductible, and the named-storm deductible, if there is one. A policy that is understood before the storm is a policy that pays after it; a policy that is first read after the storm is a policy that surprises.
Worked example
Consider an ILLUSTRATIVE homeowner with a house insured for $300,000, a 2% wind and hail deductible, and a roof settled at replacement cost. A hailstorm dents the metal roof and cracks several shingles, and rain enters through a broken skylight. The wind and hail deductible is 2% of $300,000 — $6,000 — and the homeowner pays that amount before the insurer pays anything, even though a fire claim on the same policy would have carried a flat $1,000 deductible. The cracked shingles are functional damage and are paid for at replacement cost; the dents on the metal roof are cosmetic, and the policy's cosmetic-damage exclusion means they are not paid for, because the roof still keeps water out. The interior water damage is covered, because the hail created the opening. The car in the driveway, dented by the same hail, is claimed under the auto policy's comprehensive cover. The example's value is the three questions it shows — deductible, settlement, functional versus cosmetic — not any figure in it beyond the deductible arithmetic, which is the percentage times the dwelling cover.