Insurers Are Dropping Texas Homes for Hail Risk—Even Homes With No Claims

When Gary Logan's insurance company sent him a letter saying it wouldn't renew the policy on his Fort Worth home, he figured there had to be a mistake. He'd never filed a claim. His roof was, in his words, "in perfect shape." The reason Travelers gave: the property was located in an area with high wind and hail exposure.¹

"Our property is located in an area with high wind and hail? No, it's not. Everybody is located in high wind and hail," Logan told NBC 5 Responds.¹

Logan's story is not an anomaly. It's a pattern.

Why Insurers Are Dropping Clean-Risk Policies

The insurance industry is not dropping homeowners because of what you did. It's dropping them because of where they sit on a map—and because a single hailstorm in the wrong zip code could trigger a catastrophic loss across thousands of policies at once.

"It may not necessarily mean they're trying to reduce that individual hail risk on that one single house, but maybe a general area," said Rich Johnson of the Insurance Council of Texas, a trade group representing insurers.¹

That geographic concentration is the real concern. If an insurer has clustered thousands of customers in North Texas and a severe hailstorm rolls through, every one of those roofs—some running $20,000 to $30,000 each—suddenly needs replacement.¹ Insurers are rebalancing their portfolios to avoid that single-event exposure.

The math is getting worse. According to the Insurance Information Institute, Texas had more hail events and tornadoes than any other state in 2024.¹ The state also saw 20 weather disasters costing $1 billion or more that year—fast and frequent enough that insurers can no longer treat these as outlier events.¹

The Complaints Are Skyrocketing

The Texas Department of Insurance received 190 consumer complaints about policy nonrenewals in 2024—more than double the 79 complaints filed in 2023.¹ That's not a minor adjustment. That's a structural shift.

Major carriers are pulling back. Foremost Insurance, a subsidiary of Farmers Insurance, began issuing nonrenewal notices in late 2023 targeting customers in areas with concentrated wind and hail exposure.⁴ A Farmers spokesperson confirmed the company is "no longer offering this insurance program" in affected areas, though more than 90% of existing Texas customers were not affected.⁴

This follows a pattern playing out across catastrophe-prone markets, though Texas has fared better than California or Florida. About 160 companies still write homeowners insurance in Texas, compared to states where private markets have largely collapsed.⁴

Your Legal Rights When the Letter Arrives

Here's what Texas law requires: If your policy was bought or renewed in 2024, your insurer must give you at least 60 days' written notice before nonrenewing.² For policies from 2023 or earlier, the minimum is 30 days.²

The notice must include the reason for nonrenewal—if it doesn't, you can ask. And if this happened after January 1, 2026, the company must provide a written statement explaining why.²

If you believe the nonrenewal is unfair, you can file a complaint with the Texas Department of Insurance.²

The Lender Loophole That Could Blindside You

If you don't find replacement coverage before your policy expires, your mortgage lender will step in—not to protect you, but to protect its collateral. Lenders force-place a policy that covers only the structure. Your belongings, your liability, your additional living expenses if you're displaced? None of that is covered.¹

You will pay for this lender-placed policy, often at inflated rates, and receive almost nothing in return.

How to Protect Your Coverage—Before You Have To

Start shopping immediately. Logan was given roughly two months to find a new policy. He described the experience as "reserving a couple, three or four days to sit on the phone and make calls," dealing with hang-ups and disconnections.¹ He eventually found comparable coverage—and actually saved money.¹

Use HelpInsure.com. The Texas Department of Insurance's comparison tool lets you input your property location, claim history, credit score, and estimated rebuild cost. It returns sample rates and company ratings. You'll still need to contact insurers directly for a final quote, but it's a starting point.¹

Understand your declarations page. The first page of your policy—called the declarations page—summarizes your coverage limits, deductibles, and covered perils. Know what's there before you need to replace it.³

Consider home hardening. Consumer advocates argue that upgrading to impact-resistant shingles and making your home more storm-resistant reduces overall claims—and that should eventually translate to better coverage options and rates. Some states, like Alabama, have grant programs to offset hardening costs, and insurers there offer "fortified endorsement" add-ons that pay extra toward upgraded roofing after a claim.¹

Know your last resort. If at least two private insurers refuse to cover you, you can buy a policy through the Texas FAIR Plan Association—the state's insurer of last resort.² This is not a preferred option (premiums tend to be higher and coverage more limited), but it's better than a lapsed policy with a lender-placed fallback.

The Bottom Line

Your insurer's nonrenewal letter is not a referendum on your home's condition or your claims history. It's a business decision made at the portfolio level—and it can happen even if your roof is immaculate and your record is clean.