Most homeowners set their deductible once — the day they buy the policy — and never think about it again. That’s a missed opportunity. Your deductible is one of the few coverage decisions that’s entirely in your control, and it has a real effect on your premium.

In North Mississippi, though, the strategy has an extra layer most people don’t know about: the second deductible.

The Basic Trade-Off

The general rule holds across the industry: a higher deductible means a lower premium, a lower deductible means a higher one. You’re agreeing to shoulder more of a small-to-mid-size claim yourself, which reduces the insurer’s expected payout — and what they charge you for it.

How much a change moves your premium depends on the carrier and the home. We won’t pretend there’s a universal number, and neither should anyone else. But the direction is reliable.

The Second Deductible

Here’s the layer that gets missed. Many homeowners policies written in our area carry two deductibles — a standard deductible for perils like fire, water damage, and theft, and a separate wind and hail deductible that applies specifically to wind and hail claims.

That second one usually isn’t a flat dollar amount. It’s typically calculated as a percentage of your home’s insured value — percentage deductibles generally run from 1% to 5%, though the exact figure varies by carrier and policy.

Run the arithmetic on your own declarations page. On a home insured for $200,000, a 2% wind and hail deductible means the first $4,000 of a storm claim is yours — separate from, and usually larger than, your standard deductible.

Why the Wind Number Matters More Here

Because around here, the wind number is the one that gets used. Mississippi recorded 111 tornadoes in 2025 — fourth in the nation — and the straight-line wind and hail that ride along with those systems generate far more claims than the tornadoes themselves.

So when you’re weighing deductibles to manage your premium, think about both numbers together — not just the standard one on the front page. Some homeowners keep the standard deductible low for the unpredictable stuff, like a water leak, and accept a higher wind and hail percentage they can plan around financially. Others prefer the reverse. There’s no universally right answer — just the answer that fits your savings and your nerves.

A Quick Way to Think It Through

  1. Find both deductibles on your declarations page — standard and wind/hail.
  2. Convert the percentage to dollars. Insured value times the percentage. Write the number down.
  3. Ask the honest question: could you cover that amount the week after a storm without real strain?
  4. Compare quotes at different deductible levels so the premium trade-off is a number, not a guess.
  5. Revisit it at renewal — your home’s insured value drifts up over time, and a percentage deductible drifts up with it.

That last point is quietly important. A 2% deductible on a home insured for more than it was five years ago is a bigger dollar number than the one you originally agreed to — and most people never notice.

When Raising a Deductible Makes Sense — and When It Doesn’t

Raising a deductible tends to make sense when you have savings set aside to cover the higher out-of-pocket comfortably, and you’d rather pay less every year than less on the rare claim.

It stops making sense the moment the number would cause real financial strain after a loss. A deductible you can’t actually pay isn’t a strategy — it’s a smaller version of being underinsured. And a high percentage on a higher-value home adds up fast, which is why we run the actual math instead of guessing.

One more honest caution: don’t set a sky-high deductible on the theory that you’d never file a small claim anyway. The deductible you choose applies to the big loss too — the roof, not just the fence panel. Pick the number for the worst week, not the average one.

Deductible strategy is one piece of a policy that has to hold up as a whole. Our home insurance page covers how we build coverage — and with 20+ carriers to shop, we can show you the same home at different deductible levels side by side.

Want the trade-offs in real dollars instead of percentages? Call or text 662-454-7831. A real person picks up, and we’ll take the time to run the numbers with you.