Offsetting the cost
The Class 4 Insurance Discount, Accurately
There is a great deal of confusion about this, including from roofers. Here is what the Texas Department of Insurance actually says, in its own words rather than ours.
“A Class 4 roof covering would receive the highest premium credit. The amount of discount for each class of roofing material is established by the insurance company on a company-by-company basis.”
Class 4 = highestTDI states Class 4 receives the highest premium credit of the four classes.
Your carrier sets itThe amount, the test criteria and the paperwork are decided company by company.
Never automaticYou have to request it and submit the documentation.
What we will not tell you is a percentage. You will find roofing sites quoting 20%, 35%, even 70%. There is no statewide figure, because TDI is explicit that each company sets its own, so any roofer promising you a specific saving is guessing.
What we can tell you: Class 4 earns the largest credit available, your carrier decides how large, and you have to ask. We provide the UL 2218 documentation with every impact-rated installation. The number is a conversation with your agent, ideally before you choose a shingle rather than after.
The question nobody tells you to ask
Some carriers attach a cosmetic damage exclusion to the impact-resistant discount. Under that arrangement, hail that dents shingles without functionally damaging them may not be covered at all: you take the lower premium and give up cosmetic hail claims.
That may be a perfectly good trade on a Class 4 roof, which is built not to be functionally damaged in the first place. But it should be a decision you made, not one you discovered after a storm.
Ask your agent: is any endorsement required to receive the credit, and what does it exclude?
Ask your carrier four things: whether they offer an impact-resistant credit at all, what it is for a UL 2218 Class 4 roof, whether an endorsement is required to get it, and when it takes effect. Some apply it at renewal rather than immediately.
The full guide to Class 4 impact-resistant roofs: what the two hail tests measure, why they disagree, and what TDI publishes about the discount.