Your hurricane deductible is a percentage, not a number
This is the single most misunderstood line on a Florida homeowners policy, and it is the one that decides what you actually pay after a storm.
How it works
Florida personal residential policies carry a separate hurricane deductible, expressed as a percentage of Coverage A, the dwelling limit. Insurers must offer a menu that generally includes 500, 2%, 5%, 10%, with availability of the flat option depending on the value of the home. It applies from the moment the National Hurricane Center issues a hurricane watch or warning for any part of Florida, and continues until 72 hours after the last watch or warning ends. It applies once per calendar year, so a second storm in the same year is subject only to your all-other-perils deductible.
Choosing yours
Work out the dollar figure first
2% of $500,000 is $10,000. Look at the number, not the percentage, because the percentage is designed to feel small.
Ask whether you could write that cheque
The right deductible is the largest one you could genuinely pay tomorrow without borrowing. Not one dollar more.
Compare the premium saving
Going from 2% to 5% saves premium every year and costs you tens of thousands once. The calculator on this site shows both sides.
The number nobody runs
On a $400,000 dwelling limit, 2% is $8,000 and 10% is $40,000. The annual premium difference between them is real, but so is the gap you cover yourself, and roof damage claims very frequently land inside that gap and get paid entirely by the homeowner.
Once per calendar year, and that matters
If a first storm exhausts your hurricane deductible, later hurricanes in the same calendar year fall under the all-other-perils deductible instead. Keep the paperwork from the first claim, because that is how you prove it.
What this touches
Questions people actually ask
Does it apply to a tropical storm?
The hurricane deductible is triggered by a hurricane watch or warning. Damage from a tropical storm without one falls under your regular deductible.
Can I change it mid-term?
Usually at renewal, and never once a watch is issued. Decide in the winter.
Work it out before anybody sells you anything
Four calculators that run in your browser, a page for every situation Florida puts people in, and the claims data for your own county. All of it free, and none of it behind a form. The form is for the other half of the job: when you have read enough and want a person on the phone.
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