Home insurance in Hawaii: the last-resort market
The insurer of last resort in Hawaii is the Hawaii Property Insurance Association, known as HPIA. It is the state's FAIR plan, created after Hurricane Iniki, and it exists for homes the standard market will not write — high-risk homes, including homes in lava zones 1 and 2. A FAIR plan is not a first choice: it is basic property cover for a home that cannot get a standard policy, and it exists so that a home is not left uninsurable because of where it stands.
HPIA covers the homes the private market turns away because of their exposure — lava-flow zones, coastal wind exposure, and other high-risk locations. Like other FAIR plans, it provides basic property cover where the standard market will not write, and it is not a full homeowners policy: the gaps it leaves need separate thought, because a FAIR plan policy does not carry the six parts of a standard policy set out in the third section of this page.
The market changed in 2025. Senate Bill 1044, the stabilisation legislation passed that year, expanded HPIA and reactivated the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund, so that the fund can issue hurricane cover directly to condo associations. The changes followed the 2023 Maui fires and the condo-insurance crisis, when associations found hurricane and property cover hard to buy at any price.
What this means for a homeowner is practical: if private insurers decline the home, HPIA is the route to cover, and if the home is a condo, the association's cover now has a state-backed route that did not exist before 2025. Either way, the policy wording decides what is covered — read it before buying, and check the hurricane position separately, because hurricane cover is typically a separate policy, as the next section explains.
HPIA is not the only state-backed route in the 2025 changes. The reactivated Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund can now issue hurricane cover directly to condo associations, which matters because a condo association buys cover for the whole building, and when the association cannot buy it, every unit owner feels it. A homeowner in a condo should ask the association what hurricane cover it holds, rather than assuming the building is covered because the unit has a policy of its own.
Flood, wind and hail cover in Hawaii
Flood is excluded from a standard homeowners policy in Hawaii, as it is everywhere else. Water from rising floodwater, storm surge and overflowing waterways is not covered by an ordinary homeowners policy, and flood cover is bought separately, through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood insurer. Your flood zone is an address-level fact, not a state-level one, so check the zone for the address, not for the state.
Wind is the other exclusion to read carefully in Hawaii. Standard homeowners policies typically exclude hurricane cover, and a separate hurricane policy is needed. The cover only triggers when the Central Pacific Hurricane Center declares a hurricane, so a storm that is not declared a hurricane does not trigger it, and the wording of the trigger is part of what you are buying.
Deductibles for wind and hail are often a percentage of the home's insured value rather than a fixed dollar amount, and no single percentage is set by the state: the figure varies by policy and by county, so the declarations page is the source that matters. As an ILLUSTRATIVE example only, on a home insured for $300,000, a 2% wind deductible is $6,000 — the arithmetic, not a figure any Hawaii rule sets.
A lender may require wind or hurricane cover as a condition of the loan on a coastal home, even though the state itself does not require it, and flood cover is a federal lending requirement for a home in a high-risk flood zone with a government-backed mortgage. Check what the loan requires in writing, separately from what the law requires, before comparing quotes — a cheaper policy that leaves out the hurricane cover the lender requires is not the same product as one that includes it.
Hail is the smaller wind risk in Hawaii compared with hurricane wind, but the deductible logic is the same: a percentage deductible applies to the insured value, and the declarations page states the figure. The settlement method for the roof — replacement cost or actual cash value — decides how much of the repair the payment covers, so read it alongside the deductible before buying.
What a standard homeowners policy covers — and what it leaves out
A standard homeowners policy in Hawaii has the same six parts as everywhere in the country: dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, personal liability and medical payments, as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners describes them. The dwelling limit is set by the estimated rebuild cost, not the market value, and the site's homeowners cost calculator works that figure out from the living area and a rebuild cost per square foot.
Flood and earthquake are excluded from a standard policy in Hawaii and need separate cover — flood through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood insurer, earthquake through a separate earthquake policy — and the site's flood and earthquake guides explain the routes. Your flood zone is an address-level fact, not a state-level one, so check the zone for the address, not for the state.
The deductible deserves the same attention in Hawaii as anywhere else. The minimum deductible offered by most insurers is $500 or $1,000, according to the Insurance Information Institute, and for wind, hail and hurricane damage the deductible is often a percentage of the home's insured value, typically 1% to 5% according to the III. On a home insured for $300,000, a 2% wind and hail deductible is $6,000. The declarations page should show both deductibles — the flat all-other-perils amount and the percentage wind and hail amount — before the policy is bought.
The settlement method is the other figure to read before buying: replacement cost pays what it costs to rebuild or replace with materials of similar kind and quality, without deducting for depreciation, while actual cash value deducts for depreciation, so the same loss pays less under actual cash value. The NAIC's consumer guide explains the difference, and the declarations page should state which method applies to the dwelling and to the roof. A roof settled at actual cash value on an older home can leave a large gap between the claim payment and the repair bill, and that gap is decided by the policy wording, not by the storm.
Loss of use is the part of the policy most often overlooked: if the home cannot be lived in after a covered loss, loss of use pays the extra cost of living elsewhere, up to its limit, while repairs are made. Personal liability and medical payments cover injuries to others on the property and small medical bills without a lawsuit. Read the limits on each part rather than the dwelling limit alone.
How to check a quote in Hawaii
Home insurance in Hawaii is regulated by the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Insurance Division. The regulator licenses insurers, approves the rating plans that set premiums and discounts, and handles complaints when an insurer's conduct is in question. If a claim is denied or underpaid, or if an insurer's behaviour seems wrong, the regulator is the place to complain — and the complaint should be made with the policy, the declarations page and the claim correspondence in hand, because the regulator decides on the record.
Before buying any policy in Hawaii, run the checks in this order. First, the licence: is the insurer licensed in Hawaii, under the name on the policy. Second, the quote in writing: does it state the dwelling limit, the deductibles and the exclusions, or only a price. Third, the dwelling limit against the rebuild cost: does the limit match what it would cost to rebuild the home, not what the home would sell for. Fourth, the deductible stated as a figure: what is the flat deductible, is there a percentage wind and hail deductible, and can you pay it from savings on the day of a loss. Fifth, the exclusions read before buying: is flood covered or excluded, is there a cosmetic-damage exclusion, is the roof settled at replacement cost or actual cash value.
Keep the documents together after buying: the policy, the declarations page, the insurer's claims number, and the regulator's contact details, in a place you can reach after a loss. A flooded house is a bad time to discover that the only copy of the policy was in the house. The site's editorial policy explains how this site reviews its guides, and the contact page gives the address for questions about the site itself — but for a question about a policy, the insurer and the regulator are the authorities, not this site.
Compare quotes like with like: identical dwelling limits, identical deductibles, identical cover types, and the total cost rather than the price alone. A quote that is cheaper because it drops the wind and hail endorsement or settles the roof at actual cash value has not beaten the quote it is compared with; it has bought less cover.
Ask for the quote in writing, and keep it with the declarations page once the policy is bought. A verbal promise about hurricane cover, a deductible, or a settlement method is worth little after a loss; the written policy is what decides a claim. If the written quote and the declarations page disagree, the declarations page is the record to chase before the policy starts, not after a storm.
Do not let a policy lapse while you shop for a replacement: a lapse can leave the home uncovered. If the last-resort cover is the only cover available, keep it in force while a standard policy is sought, and cancel it only once the replacement is confirmed in writing.
Worked example
Consider an ILLUSTRATIVE homeowner in Hawaii buying a first homeowners policy. She starts with the last-resort position: her home is in lava zone 2, so she checks whether a standard policy will cover it or whether the Hawaii Property Insurance Association is the route, and she reads what the association's cover includes and leaves out. She checks the hurricane position separately, because hurricane cover is typically a separate policy that only triggers when the Central Pacific Hurricane Center declares a hurricane, and she reads the wind deductible on the declarations page, working out what a percentage deductible would cost on her dwelling limit. She checks the flood position for her address, not for the state, and arranges flood cover separately if the home needs it. She checks the dwelling limit against the rebuild cost, confirms the roof's settlement method, and reads both deductibles before comparing prices. The example's value is the method, not any figure in it: no premium is stated, because premiums vary by insurer and by driver. What it shows is that the state rules are the starting point for every quote, and a quote judged against another state's rules is a quote misjudged.