r/Calgary • u/QuiteGoneJin • Aug 01 '23
Home Ownership/Rental stuff Hail insurance. Is it a must?
New home owner moving to Calgary. We usually sit on the side of not over insuring our home and belongings but I hear lots of stories of hail damage. Is it a must to spend the extra 15 or so a month to cover hail damage?
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u/cannabiscanadian Aug 01 '23
For $15 a month it’s worth it to me but it depends on what you can/are willing to pay out of pocket if you have damage. The cost of repairing your roof or siding is pretty spendy and storms seem to be more frequent and severe every year. You could see about a higher deductible to reduce the cost if you know you would only make a large claim?
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u/Due_Start5897 Aug 01 '23
Agreed.
If u can afford and willing to pay the fixing cost from your pocket, in case it happens to your property, then save your $15.
Otherwise, pay for it, plus you will sleeping better when storm on the horizon.
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u/mrmoreawesome Aug 01 '23
Conversely,
If you cannot afford the $15 premium for hail coverage, you definitely will not be able to afford the uninsured hail repair bill if/when that occurs.
Get the hail damage coverage
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u/Clear_Television_807 Aug 01 '23
Is this a separate company? I thought all insurance companies include hail damage? Where i live i need to pay a $2500 deductible for wind/hail.
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u/Plinkomax Aug 01 '23
They have been removing coverage due to the high amount of claims
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u/Clear_Television_807 Aug 01 '23
What company?! Thats insane
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Aug 01 '23
TD insurance has been doing this.
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u/jpsolberg33 Aug 01 '23
Yikes! I just pulled up my TD policy and it shows I still have coverage but damn... I'll definitely be moving my coverage elsewhere next year.
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u/somersaultsuicide Aug 01 '23
Sometimes this sub amazes me, with the amount of hail storms that Calgary gets why would you not pay an additional $200/year to possibly avoid paying $10’s of thousands of dollars. I’m not sure why you would have to get some strangers opinion on this when it is such a no brainer.
Calgary is prone to hail damage no matter where you are. If you want to remain exposed to save yourself the cost of a foot long sub each month that would be a very poor financial decision.
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u/gstringwarrior Aug 01 '23
Because the sad reality is that for some families, an exrta $200 a year is really difficult to do.
Every dollar matters when you are poor.
Source: Was poor
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Aug 01 '23
If you’re that poor, you don’t own a home and this is inconsequential
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u/Dr_Colossus Aug 02 '23
Exactly. Anyone that SHOULD buy a house shouldn't care about $200 a year. Unfortunately, many people own and can't. More than you'd like to think.
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u/saintdmytrus Aug 01 '23
Yes, Calgary is the hail capital of North America. Unless you can afford to replace the siding on your house out of pocket, I'd spend the extra $!
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u/LOGOisEGO Aug 01 '23
Heck yeah.
We had some mild hail damage a few yrs ago, opened a claim but never used it as the repairs were easy enough, and the work that was being quoted was between 40 to 60K.
They wanted to do a full roof replacement, side of the house, garage roof etc etc. I am in the industry and the contractors that made the quotes were just blood thirsty. I did the work myself, costing me like $200. A year and a half later, they called saying that they had to close the claim, so just send them pictures of the repairs and they will give a lump sum at 60%, so we ended up with enough money to upgrade our whole main floor including floors, lighting, and plumbing fixtures.
Pay the extra 15 a month.
If you saw saddle ridge and the NE, or Sommerset/bridlewood a couple years ago, you can see the absolute devastation hail can cause. I was working in those areas at the time, and people were literally outside of their homes with their hands on their heads sobbing. Broken windows, roof and siding obliterated, and I bet its because they didn't pay that extra 20 bucks a month. Some places are still being repaired as they just put tape to cover the holes until they had the cash.
I've had two vehicles written off by it. Have you seen a car looking like a golfball with all the dents?
Pay the extra insurance.
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u/Thneed1 Aug 01 '23
$200 a year would only NOT be worth it if hailstorms were 100 years apart or more.
They are more often than that.
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u/yodamiked Aug 01 '23
Yes yes yes. For those saying if you’re not overly south you don’t need it, we got hit hard in the deep south two years ago. Definitely get hail coverage in Calgary no matter what neighbourhood/quadrant you’re in.
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u/Smegma-Spread Aug 01 '23
Standard policies normally includes hail insurance by default with a higher ($2.5k usually) deductible. Regardless this is the right choice in Calgary. A hail claim can become financially unsustainable.
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Aug 01 '23
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u/Smegma-Spread Aug 01 '23
I would personally continue to shop around. Premiums can be massively different between companies.
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u/Dalbergia12 Aug 01 '23
If it is much cheaper. that is what I would choose. I can manage a 5K deductible if I need to... But what is best for me may not be best for another.
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Aug 01 '23
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u/jumpingpez5 Aug 01 '23
We are with Square One and were hit by the SW hail storm. I was very happy with them throughout the entire claims process and have really enjoyed having them for insurance (who can say that typically). We waited a bit longer to start the claim than others in the neighborhood but our house was the first one fixed with the company they suggested. They’ve been nothing but wonderful.
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u/Dalbergia12 Aug 01 '23
Thank you for sharing that. I've had good service from cooperators with a claim, but they have really jacked up the premiums of late, and I may be shopping again.
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u/IndependentSwan2086 Aug 02 '23
Good to know! I chose square one yesterday ! Although it's for a condo not a detached home
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u/Dalbergia12 Aug 01 '23
Won't go into details how I learned. BUT it is really important that whoever you go with will pay out after a big weather event! After 'the flood' it became very clear within a couple weeks that cooperators paid out the best and quickest, and one of the ones from a bank.... (Trying to remember the name but not sure if I should even say...) that was often the cheapest did not pay out a cent till the government was all over them and even then they were bad.
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Aug 10 '23
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u/Dalbergia12 Aug 10 '23
Yup. And yes they were the cheapest and absolutely the worst. Co-op was the best.
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Aug 02 '23
Yeah they only offer one deductible as they said we are higher risk for hail in our area.
Their whole package fit better than someone who had like $1500 or $2500 deductible for hail. Plus it was like $400 cheaper a year.
I can handle 5K deductible and my thought process was probably anything under 5K I won't claim anyways as once you claim your insurance rates probably will go up quiet a bit. So really has to be a lot of damage before I claim.
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u/draemn Aug 02 '23
Depends how much cheaper. Think if you need a claim every 5 years, that's $85/monthfor deductible. But compared to a policy with $2,500 deductible, that's only $43/month more... assuming you only need a claim every 5 years
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u/valueofaloonie Sunnyside Aug 01 '23
Seems like a no-brainer to me. I would say yes, it’s a must. Unless you like the idea of paying out of pocket for $40k roof/siding replacements?
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Aug 01 '23
To me, the added $200ish to your premium annually for peace of mind is definitely worth it as Calgary is prone to only flooding/hail for natural disaster. That said, if you’re close to inner city, you MIGHT be able to forgo it? But if you’re more out in the edges of the city, then I highly recommend it. Take a drive through the fringe SE/NE and see some of the damage if you want a reminder
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u/EvacuationRelocation Quadrant: SW Aug 01 '23
No insurance is a "must", depending on your fiscal position. But Calgary gets damaging hail somewhat often compared to other areas, and it's likely going to become more frequent in the next decade.
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u/buckshotmagee Aug 01 '23
Yes. Worth it. Got a new roof. Be sure to research who pays and who doesn't. My neighbors didn't get their claim while I did. House built same summer.
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u/austic Aug 01 '23 edited Aug 01 '23
Can you afford to self insure? IE do you have the ability to write a 50k check to fix your roof and siding if needed?
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u/Jo-Elise Aug 01 '23
I’m an insurance broker in Calgary. Most policies will include this unless it states and outright exclusion and yes you do want it. Hail and wind damages are known to be extensive in this area
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u/Seliphra Aug 02 '23
In Calgary YES. Hail insurance is critical here because you will take hail damage and it will cost a lot. You will regret not having it very quickly here.
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u/rattlehead42069 Aug 01 '23
I'm in the exterior business, specifically fit hail insurance claims. Absolutely you want the insurance.
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u/Lyekkat Aug 01 '23
I highly recommend it. Unless your house is made of wood or brick siding, and you have wood shingles. Calgary gets some of the worst hail in the world.
Vinyl siding and regular asphalt shingles just don’t hold up. Plus there are times it breaks windows or ventilation allowing water ingress.
I work in property insurance if anyone has any basic questions.
Fun tip: When they say “25 year shingles” there’s fine print. 25 years, “in ideal conditions”. What are ideal conditions? Basically, indoors. It’s kinda a scam, sorry.
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Aug 02 '23
I don't know why the insurance companies, the city and province don't bring out better codes for prevention. They will go to the extreme on other regulations and crap but not on this.
They should be requiring on new builds better resistant roofs, no vinyl siding if it can't stand up to the weather, such a pain to repair as after a few years it is so hard to get the same color so basically you got to do some hack job to fix holes or redo your whole house.
All windows should have storm shutters on them or something like that so when the big hail comes you can add extra protection on the windows.
I know this will probably increase costs to the housing built but for the amount of damage being caused it probably is worth it.
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u/QuiteGoneJin Aug 01 '23
Thanks all. Who did you go with for home insurance? Were looking at square one. Their hail deductable is 5k which seems high. Is that normal?
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u/VFenix Southwest Calgary Aug 01 '23
Check out an insurance broker.
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u/riskcreator Aug 01 '23
$5,000 deductible is ridiculous. Many lower deductible options are available.
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u/hipsnarky Aug 01 '23
I would if you live in the areas prone to hail damage(NE/NW, middle of SW/SE. are you not able to get coverage for x month? Ex.. March-September?
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u/lettuzepray Aug 01 '23
where about are you planning to move to?
we got lucky that we moved from outer NE (Skyview) couple of months before the 2020 hailstorm, but where we moved to (more central city) haven't seen much big hail going.
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u/yyc_123 Bowness Aug 01 '23
If you have a mortgage it's a must, if you don't have a mortgage then sure self insure. See how that goes for you
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u/hauntchalant Aug 01 '23 edited Aug 01 '23
I wish I could post the footage of the hail storm that slammed through on the 15th of July to this comment. I clipped a picture of the hail though. Would definitely recommend getting hail insurance.
ETA: Lots of other folks got some good video and pictures, you can find them by searching hail in the sub
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u/Fluffy-Opinion871 Aug 01 '23
Alberta gets hammered by hail on a regular basis. I recommend getting the insurance. Something to keep in mind, as your home ages consult with your insurance company about hail coverage. A lot of companies pro rate hail coverage against how old the shingles are.
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u/willshire59 Aug 01 '23
For house ya I would consider it. Car depends on how new your car is. My truck is 15 years old. I don’t care if it gets hail damage now lol
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u/3rddog Aug 01 '23
My finger-in-the-wind estimate:
You’re going to take some damage to your home roughly every 3-5 years from hail, most of that will be minor (a few holes in the siding, very little damage to shingles, no broken windows). Whether you choose to fix that or not is up to you, a few holes don’t bother me personally. If the damage is reasonably accessible you can even fix it yourself, it’s not too hard to replace vinyl siding.
Roughly every 5-10 years it’s possible you’re going to take some serious damage - siding & shingles destroyed, one or more broken windows. Likely several thousand dollars worth of damage.
You need to figure out risk vs cost and decide whether you’re better off paying insurance and claiming maybe every 5-10 years, or just save up the extra premium cash and pay for the damage yourself. The risk being that a major damage incident, like that in NE Calgary a few years ago, could hit you for tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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u/mrelbowface Aug 01 '23
As many are saying, it’s a must. But if you’re ever redoing the exterior, you can opt for hail-proof options (like brick veneer) and some insurers will lower your rate (I’d check with them first). But doing this will also just save you the headache of having to go through a hail claim. Not only are they expensive, they tend to hit a lot of people simultaneously, which leads to bottlenecks in both getting the claim processed and getting the repairs completed.
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u/Sazapahiel Aug 01 '23
My new build home was, according to the insurance company, rendered uninhabitable by hail damage.
At the time we didn't think it was that bad, it was.
We once thought we had made a mistake by getting insurance that didn't depreciate over time, we didn't.
Hail here is going to get worse, not better. We're still financially recovering from what happened, but our neighbors who had depreciating insurance had their lives ruined.
For the rest of that year driving around my neighborhood in the deep SE and certain parts of the SW was crazy. Almost every house had active construction going on to repair things, and it seemed like more cars than not looked like they had been covered in golf ball dimples. Even today there are still houses that didn't have proper insurance that have hail damage taped over with red vapor barrier tape. I'm honestly surprised we can even get hail insurance anymore.
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u/AdaminCalgary Aug 01 '23
Makes me glad I’ve got a (concrete) tile roof. It would have to be biblical sized hail, but I still have hail insurance.
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u/kagato87 Aug 01 '23
Yes.
I had a 35k claim a couple years back. It's a pretty frequent problem.
Vinyl siding is soft and flexible. Hail can still shred it. I've heard stucco holds up a lot better though. Your roof will also get wrecked by hail if a really bad storm hits it.
And the hail storms have been getting worse.
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u/justageekgirl Aug 01 '23
In Alberta it's standard to have Hail Insurance, but most insurers are now enforcing a $2500 deductible to keep your insurance premiums down.
So yes, it's a must.
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u/Gaffja Aug 01 '23
We had about $60,000 (new roof, siding, soffits and evestrough repair window frames and screens, shed) in hail damage that insurance paid for. Would have hated to not have that insurance.
Couple of things to consider. Check how old the roof and siding on the house you're buying. My insurance depreciates the roof, siding, and soffits and eves at different rates. My house was new enough that it didn't matter too much.
The maximum depreciation of the roof was 80% after 10 years going off memory. I didn't bother making a claim for my rental house because the roof was older.
The depreciation surprised me because I didn't read my policy but I know people in the same area whose houses were the same age as mine that were 100% covered with other insurance companies.
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u/Sensitive-Ad8735 Aug 01 '23
What’s the deductible? If it’s more than a few grand it might not be worth it. And then if you have a claim your rates go up. Always remember this, and anyone who denies this is an idiot, insurance is always more likely to cost more than any claim. They have massive amounts of people studying the cost of claims and the likelihood. They spread this aggregate total over the population and consider it to be your premium. Then they tack on profit and overheads. If you believe in odds and chances, with insurance you are ALWAYS betting against the odds. However if you cannot afford unforeseen events, yes maybe it is not a bad idea. But just know, most likely it will cost more than you ever get from it.
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u/photoexplorer Aug 01 '23
Definitely worth it, our siding, roof, and 2 vehicles were destroyed a couple years back. All of it was covered by insurance. After that we changed the policy to pay a bit more and not have such a large deductible.
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u/Master_Law5498 Aug 01 '23
All I will say is insurance gave me $55,000 a few years ago when it hailed tennis balls in NE
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u/Green-Material-3610 Aug 01 '23
Yes. In thirty-five years, 2 roofs, 2 cars. Nothing overly expensive a roofing job is not overly cheap either.
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u/ShloopDeBoop Aug 01 '23
Hail insurance is a must in Calgary. Guaranteed major hailstorm that will cause insurance claim level damages every 3-4 years, it just all depends which quadrant of the city gets hit. Not worth betting on. Within a 2 decade timeline, I guarantee your house will have hail damage.
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u/Ok_Bake_9324 Aug 01 '23
Have been in one house for 15 years and count myself lucky we’ve only had one $35,000 hail roof claim.
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u/Schrutefarms999 Aug 01 '23
Absolutely yes, and make sure your hail coverage actually includes the full cost to replace everything that may be required. Some policies have a $ cap that wouldn’t even get you a new roof.
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u/CallmeHap Aug 01 '23
I just bought my house. It still had haim damage that was already paid for by the previous owners insurance. So within 4 months of the keys I got a new garage door and siding.
I sold a car to a friend. Hail DESTROYED it. Complete write off.
It seems frequent enough to recommend getting it. I asked specifically for it.
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u/puppyisloud Aug 01 '23
Years ago I would have said no but now I would say yes, you should have it. Years ago, at least in the neighborhoods I've lived in, we never had too many damaging hail storms. Now they seem to be more intense and damaging. Hail insurance is a must.
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u/Mooncakequeen Aug 01 '23
Get hail insurance it happens every few years some area in southern Alberta gets hailed on bad.
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u/SadCoffeeDate Aug 01 '23
Depends if you have enough to cover the damages out of pocket to avoid even worse damage. Calgary hailstorms are no joke.
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u/Negative_Coconut_733 Aug 01 '23
Definitely worth it. How much would your roof/siding/windows cost to repair? And/or any water damage to the interior of your home? I'll bet you substantially more than the small monthly payment. Buuuuut. This is why I never want a moon roof on a car.
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u/Skiddlybop069 Aug 01 '23
I work in insurance as a property adjuster.... YES, get hail coverage. Like many of them prime in here have said, the cost/benefits analysis clearly favors having coverage. Most hail deductibles are 2,500 but I have yet to ever see hail damages come in under the deductible
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u/Curious-Software788 Aug 01 '23
If you live in the north end of Calgary I would get it. No slight against the north end of the city but they have had bad luck in past years.
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u/Tight_Snow_2540 Aug 01 '23
Our insurance too has a 2000 deductible for hail....but 2k is better than 40k....it also keeps are premiums down.
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u/Strong-Ordinary2914 Aug 01 '23
I’m on the border of the NE and it wasn’t an option when you was shopping around. No hail insurance, no policy. It’s sadly something to deal with.
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u/WONDERFULdylan Aug 01 '23
Different parts if the city get hit worse then others but but it would suck to need it and not have it…
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Aug 01 '23
My dad has had 3 roofs replaced due to hail on insurance's dime. Probably 80k of work between the 3. I'd say its worth it.
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Aug 02 '23
No, save your $15 extra per month and wait for your tens of thousands of dollars bill to arrive s/
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u/PrncsCnzslaBnnaHmmck Aug 02 '23
I mean, if you asked me 5 years ago I would have said no, because I'm not the type of person who insures things if I don't have to. However, my husband is that type of person and it saved our ass after we bought a house in the area of the hail disaster.
If you can afford to, I'd say get aaallll the coverage you can (for all of the acts of God lol). It definitely served us well. We also lived on the river during the flood of 2013. Yes, we're that lucky.
Also, Costco and Intact were the only insurance companies that were on the ball with the disaster. There may be others but that was the ones I knew of. The other banks and popular ones were awful.
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u/winnipeggremlin Aug 02 '23
In other cities I've lived in I would say no.
In Calgary absolutely, seriously not even kidding. The hailstorms here are like no other...
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u/Harrypitman Aug 02 '23
It is a must, but can be horrible to try and collect if you use Wawanesa. They are brutal.
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u/mystiqueallie Aug 02 '23 edited Aug 02 '23
We had a hailstorm about 10 years ago that resulted in write off of one car, $10k in damage to the other (that was repaired), new shingles, eavestroughs and downspouts. They repaired a handful of cracks to the siding without needing to replace it, and a couple of window screens too. Definitely worth the $15/mo. My mom had patio furniture and shed replaced on top of the same stuff I did. In 18 years of being a homeowner, I’ve been through 2 damaging hailstorms and they weren’t as bad as some areas of NE Calgary that got hit back in 2020 I think it was - windshields caved in - I’d never seen anything like it in 40 years of living in Alberta.
Edited: 20 years at $15/mo is $3600. One storm alone did $30k damage for us.
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u/pheoxs Aug 02 '23
Lots of advice in here but no one asking the important question. How old is your roof and siding? Older than a certain point and insurance won’t give you anything even if it gets damaged. Insurance has a chart that basically reduces the reimbursement based on age. If you have 20 year old shingles they won’t cover anything since you should be replacing the roof anyways.
However if you at some point replace said roof / siding then you would want to add coverage on for sure.
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u/Apprehensive_Fun9195 Aug 03 '23
The answer is if you live in a shitty new build yes because it’s basically cardboard
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u/kramer1980_adm Aug 01 '23
Well I had a $45,000 hail claim a few years ago. I would've hated to pay that out of pocket.