ClearView Impact SystemsCLEARVIEWIMPACT SYSTEMS
Wind mitigation credit

Impact windows and your homeowners insurance

How the Florida wind mitigation credit is actually calculated — and why the contractor quoting you a percentage is quoting somebody else's renewal.

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Why there is no "save 30%" on this page

You will find impact window companies advertising a specific saving — 25%, 30%, "up to 45%". Those numbers are real for somebody, which is what makes them so effective and so misleading. Your credit is computed by your carrier, from your inspection form, against your policy. It depends on your coverage amount, your location, your carrier's filed rates and what mitigation features your house already has. The honest answer is that we cannot tell you, your agent can, and you should ask them before you buy rather than after.

How the credit actually works

Florida insurers price the windstorm portion of a homeowners policy partly on how well the building resists wind. To prove that, the state uses one document — the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form, OIR-B1-1802 — which every carrier in Florida, including Citizens, accepts. A licensed inspector completes it after your work is done, and it records six things about the structure: roof covering, roof deck attachment, roof-to-wall connection, roof geometry, secondary water resistance, and opening protection.

Impact windows and doors move exactly one of those six: opening protection. For most South Florida homes it is the largest single credit on the form, and it is also the only one on the list you can simply decide to buy — the roof categories are mostly determined by how the house was built and re-roofed.

The mechanism is worth internalising, because it explains most of the disappointment people report. The windows do not lower your premium. The form lowers your premium. Install impact windows, never have the inspection done, never send it to your carrier, and you will pay exactly what you paid before — while holding an asset that would have earned a credit at every renewal for as long as you own the house.

Five things that decide what you actually get

Opening protection is the big one

For most South Florida homes the opening-protection category is the single largest credit on the form. It is also the one you control: roof geometry and roof-to-wall connection are largely fixed by how the house was built, while opening protection is something you can go out and buy.

Partial protection usually gets you nothing

This is the detail that costs homeowners the most money and it is buried in almost every competitor's page. To qualify for the strongest opening-protection classification, every glazed opening generally has to be protected — every window, every exterior door, skylights, and the garage door. Leaving the garage door or one bathroom window unprotected can drop you out of the top classification entirely rather than reducing the credit proportionally.

The credit is triggered by paperwork, not by windows

Installing impact windows does not lower your premium. Filing a completed wind mitigation inspection form with your carrier lowers your premium. The windows are what makes the form say something useful. Homeowners who install and never file are paying for a benefit they are not collecting — and it happens more often than you would think.

The size of the credit varies by carrier and policy

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation's consumer material puts the windstorm-premium effect of opening protection in a broad range, and where you land inside it depends on your carrier, your coverage amount, your location and what other mitigation features the house already has. Any contractor quoting you a specific percentage before seeing your policy is quoting somebody else's renewal.

The form expires

A uniform mitigation verification form is valid for up to five years, provided nothing material about the structure changes. Keep your copy — you will want it at renewal, when you switch carriers, and when you sell. The form was revised as of April 2026, with tighter documentation requirements for impact-rated openings, so an older report may not carry the same weight.

What to do, in order

  1. Call your insurance agent before you buy and ask what your carrier allows for full opening protection on your policy.
  2. Ask specifically whether partial protection earns anything on your policy, if you are considering phasing the work.
  3. Have the work done, permitted and inspected, and keep the closed permit.
  4. Arrange a wind mitigation inspection with a licensed inspector.
  5. Send the completed form to your carrier and confirm the repricing applied at your next renewal.
  6. Keep the form. It is valid up to five years and it is worth money at renewal, when switching carriers, and at sale.

We supply the permit close-out and product approval documentation the inspector needs. Steps one, four and five are yours — nobody can do them for you.

Official reference: Florida OIR wind mitigation resources · Form revision current as of April 2026

The state grant that helps with the up-front cost →

FAQ — Insurance discounts

Common questions about the insurance credit

Usually, yes — through the wind mitigation credit on the windstorm portion of your premium. After installation a licensed inspector completes the uniform mitigation verification form, the OIR-B1-1802, recording your opening protection, and your carrier reprices from it. The credit recurs at every renewal for as long as the protection is in place, which is what makes it materially different from a one-off rebate.
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