Home Insurance in Moore, Oklahoma: What Living in Tornado Alley Really Costs

I've been writing insurance in this metro for a long time, and I'll tell you straight, Moore is its own animal. It sits right between Oklahoma City and Norman, on a stretch of ground that bad weather seems to find year after year. If you own a home in Moore, your insurance works a little differently than it does for your cousin up in Edmond. It helps to understand why.

Moore has been hit by some of the most destructive tornadoes this country has ever recorded. The 1999 storm and the 2013 storm were both about as strong as tornadoes get, and the costliest tornadoes in Oklahoma history happened right here in town. Carriers know that history.

​They price and write policies in Moore with it in mind, and that shows up on your premium and in the fine print of your coverage.

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Owning a home in Moore changes how carriers look at you

When an insurance company sizes up a house in Moore, they see the track record of this area before they ever see your specific home. That does not mean you are stuck with bad coverage or a sky-high rate.

​It means you want an agent who knows which carriers are comfortable writing homes here and which ones quietly are not. If you own a home in Moore, the goal is getting matched with a company that actually wants your business, not one that writes the policy today and looks for a reason to non-renew you after the next hailstorm.

Your deductible is probably a percentage, not a flat dollar amount

Here is the part that catches folks off guard every single year. Most home policies in Oklahoma carry a separate wind and hail deductible, and it is usually a percentage of your dwelling coverage instead of a flat dollar amount.

​So if your home is insured for 300,000 dollars and you have a 2 percent wind and hail deductible, you are paying the first 6,000 dollars out of your own pocket before the policy pays a dime on storm damage.

Most people never notice that number until a storm forces them to. This is one of the big reasons Oklahoma home insurance runs higher than the national average, and in a town like Moore it is worth knowing your exact deductible before the sirens go off, not after.

Rebuild cost is the number that matters most

If your house was a total loss tomorrow, would your policy actually rebuild it?

That is the question I want every homeowner in Moore to be able to answer with confidence. Your dwelling coverage needs to reflect what it would cost to rebuild your home from the foundation up at today's prices, not what you paid for it and not what it would sell for. Those are three different numbers, and the gap between them has gotten wider as labor and materials have climbed.
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After the big storms, plenty of Moore families learned this the hard way when their payout did not stretch far enough to rebuild what they lost. Take a hard look at how much dwelling coverage you carry and ask whether it has kept up with construction costs. If it has not, you are underinsured, even if your premium feels plenty high already.

Do not let your roof get settled on depreciation

Hail is just a fact of life around here. The thing to watch is how your policy pays for a roof. Some policies pay replacement cost, which covers a new roof minus your deductible. Others pay actual cash value, which knocks off depreciation for the age and wear of the old roof and can leave you thousands short on a full replacement.
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Older roofs are the ones most likely to be settled on actual cash value, and a lot of homeowners do not find out which kind of coverage they have until they file. If you want to see how this plays out in a real claim, here is a closer look at how home insurance covers roof damage for Oklahoma homeowners.

Tornado damage and the coverage details that trip people up

Here is the good news first. A standard home policy covers tornado damage, because a tornado is wind, and wind is a covered peril. You do not need a separate tornado policy. What gets people in trouble is the details around a major loss, and those details matter more in Moore than just about anywhere.

Watch for ordinance or law coverage, which helps pay the extra cost of rebuilding to current building codes after a major loss. Codes have tightened since the big storms, so a rebuild often has to meet a higher standard than the home you lost.

​Watch your loss of use coverage too, since a full rebuild here can take many months and you will need somewhere to live while it happens. I walk through more of this in our guide to how home insurance responds to tornado damage in Oklahoma.

A few Moore-specific things worth checking on your policy

A handful of small items make a real difference here. If you have a storm shelter or safe room, ask whether your carrier offers a credit for it, because some do. Ask whether your policy includes extended or guaranteed replacement cost, which gives you a cushion above your dwelling limit when rebuild prices spike after a widespread storm.

Confirm you have ordinance or law coverage and a healthy loss of use limit. None of these line items cost much, and any one of them can be the difference between a smooth recovery and a financial mess.
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At Oklahoma Insurance Professionals, we live and work right here in the metro, and as an independent agency we shop multiple carriers to find Moore homeowners the right coverage at a fair price. If you want a second set of eyes on your current policy, schedule a free consultation and we will go through it together, line by line.

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Scott Godwin
Founder

Oklahoma Insurance Professionals LLC serves Oklahoma City and the surrounding Oklahoma communities by protecting the people we work with just like we protect our own family members. Home insurance, auto insurance, business insurance, and more. 

Whether in Moore, Edmond, Norman, Oklahoma City or surrounding areas, We can help you find the coverage you need.

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