The McDade Insurance Glossary is the front door to four product-specific references covering 199 plain-English definitions for Texas Established Homeowners. Home. Auto. Flood. Liability. The vocabulary changes by product. The contract-to-contracts standard does not.
The McDade Insurance Glossary is a four-product reference covering 199 Texas personal lines insurance terms across Home, Auto, Flood, and Liability. Each definition is written in plain English for Texas Established Homeowners with the specific context of Texas Insurance Code, Texas Department of Insurance rules, FEMA NFIP guidance, and Houston market conditions. Every term includes why it matters at claim time, what to look for on your declarations page, and a citation to the regulatory or carrier source where applicable. The glossary uses a hub-and-spoke architecture. This page is the hub. Four product-specific spokes contain the full term definitions. The A-Z master index below shows every term across all four spokes alphabetically, with each term linking directly to its definition on the relevant spoke.
"Every Texas household carries some combination of these four. The vocabulary that lives inside each one decides what gets paid when a claim hits."
Texas home vocabulary including ACV, RCV, Coverage A through F, Roof Payment Schedule, Wind/Hail Deductible, HO-3 vs HO-5, sublimits, endorsements, TWIA, and the language Texas carriers use on home contracts in 2026.
61 terms defined plainly for Texas Established Homeowners.
Open the Home Glossary →Texas auto vocabulary including Agreed Value, Additional Driver Discovery (A.D.D.), UM/UIM, OEM parts, labor rate reimbursement, rental reimbursement structure, and the Texas Insurance Code language carriers use on auto contracts in 2026.
55 terms defined plainly for households with assets to protect.
Open the Auto Glossary →Texas flood vocabulary including Risk Rating 2.0, Elevation Certificate post-RR 2.0, Flood Zones A/V/X, NFIP coverage limits, ICC, the 30-day waiting period, and the Houston-specific flood vocabulary every coastal and inland homeowner should understand.
50 terms defined plainly under the post-2023 NFIP framework.
Open the Flood Glossary →Personal liability and umbrella vocabulary including underlying limits, defense costs inside vs outside the limit, drop-down coverage, self-insured retention, vicarious liability, and the language Established Homeowners need to read before signing the policy that protects everything else.
33 terms defined plainly for Texas asset-protection households.
Open the Liability Glossary →"Every insurance policy is a contract. The contract-to-contracts standard means we compare your existing contract against the alternatives line by line, term by term, exclusion by exclusion. Premium comparisons alone are not enough because a lower premium often means a thinner contract underneath. About 40% of the time we tell clients to keep what they have. The other 60% is where we find a structural issue that would have cost them thousands. The McDade Insurance Glossary is the vocabulary that conversation runs on."
Charles McDade, LUTCF Founder & CEO, McDade Insurance Brokerage Group
Alphabetized across all four spokes. Each term links directly to its full definition on the relevant glossary. Use the badges to identify which product the term belongs to.
The dec page is the summary front page of your policy. Every Home, Auto, Flood, and Umbrella policy you carry has one. Lay them all out side by side. You cannot read what you do not have in front of you.
For every term you see (Coverage A, Wind/Hail Deductible, ACV, UM/UIM, Per Occurrence Limit, Risk Rating 2.0, Underlying Limits), look up the definition in the relevant glossary spoke. Note any term whose meaning differs from your assumption. Note any line item missing entirely.
Three columns. What you signed. What it actually means. What needs to change. Most households finish this exercise with three to seven flagged items per policy. Every flagged item is a conversation worth having before the next renewal.
McDade or any other independent broker. The audit conversation that follows is the contract-to-contracts standard in action. About 40% of the time the right answer is keep what you have. The other 60% is where the structural fix lives.
Connect your current Home, Auto, Flood, or Umbrella policy in two minutes. A licensed McDade broker reads your declarations page line by line using the same vocabulary defined across all four glossaries. You get a written audit and two real options inside one business day.
281.378.5002The McDade Insurance Glossary is a four-product reference covering 199 Texas personal lines insurance terms across Home, Auto, Flood, and Liability. Each definition is written in plain English for Texas Established Homeowners with the specific context of Texas Insurance Code, Texas Department of Insurance rules, FEMA NFIP guidance, and Houston market conditions. Every term includes why it matters at claim time, what to look for on your declarations page, and a citation to the regulatory or carrier source where applicable.
Most Texas households sign their insurance contracts without understanding the language inside them. The McDade Insurance Glossary makes the vocabulary accessible to anyone, whether or not they ever become a McDade client. Reading your contract honestly is the foundation of the contract-to-contracts standard McDade applies to every policy review. The glossary exists because an informed client makes a better client, and a public reference is the first step toward that.
Every insurance policy is a contract. The contract-to-contracts standard means McDade compares your existing contract against the alternatives line by line, term by term, exclusion by exclusion. Premium comparisons alone are not enough because a lower premium often means a thinner contract underneath. The contract-to-contracts standard is what produces honest recommendations including, about 40% of the time, telling clients to keep what they have.
The glossary uses a hub-and-spoke architecture. This page is the hub. Four product-specific spokes contain the full term definitions: Home Insurance Glossary (61 terms), Auto Insurance Glossary (55 terms), Flood Insurance Glossary (50 terms), and Liability Insurance Glossary (33 terms). The A-Z master index on this page shows every term across all four spokes alphabetically, with each term linking directly to its definition on the relevant spoke.
Not yet. The current glossary covers personal lines insurance only: Home, Auto, Flood, and Liability. A separate commercial insurance glossary covering Business, Workers Compensation, Cyber Liability, Builders Risk, and other commercial products is in the McDade build pipeline for 2026. Commercial vocabulary deserves its own dedicated reference because the contract structures, regulatory framework, and risk management approach differ meaningfully from personal lines.
Pull your declarations page (the summary front page of your policy). Go through the dec page line by line. For every term you see (Coverage A, Wind/Hail Deductible, ACV, UM/UIM, Per Occurrence Limit, Risk Rating 2.0, Underlying Limits), look up the definition in the relevant glossary spoke. Note any terms whose meaning differs from your assumption. Note any line items missing entirely. Send the list to McDade or any other licensed broker. The audit conversation that follows is the contract-to-contracts standard in action.
Yes. Every citation points to a regulatory body, carrier, or authoritative third-party source. Citations include Texas Department of Insurance, Texas Insurance Code Section 1952.301, Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, FEMA NFIP, FEMA Risk Rating 2.0 documentation, CBS News for the December 2024 Additional Driver Discovery case, State Farm Personal Car Policy 153-7582, Allstate Rental Reimbursement coverage, and Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas research. Zero competitor agencies are cited. Every link earns its place by being the original authoritative source.
The glossary is reviewed quarterly and updated whenever Texas Insurance Code changes, FEMA NFIP methodology updates, or major carrier policy form changes occur. Risk Rating 2.0 implementation, Texas roof payment schedule expansion, and Additional Driver Discovery practices have all driven specific term updates. The McDade glossary is intended to be a living document, not a static reference.
Yes. The McDade Insurance Glossary is a public reference and external links are welcome. Each term has a unique anchor URL that can be linked directly. For example, the Risk Rating 2.0 entry lives at mcdadeins.com/flood-insurance-glossary#risk-rating-2 and the Underlying Limits Requirements entry lives at mcdadeins.com/liability-insurance-glossary#underlying-limits. Attribution to McDade Insurance Brokerage Group is appreciated but not required.
The McDade Insurance Glossary is written by a licensed Texas independent broker with 15 years of industry experience, board service with IIA-Houston (where Charles McDade is the first African American board member in the chapter's 101-year history) and NAAIA Houston, and direct claim experience across Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Ike, Tropical Storm Allison, and the Texas hail markets. Every definition is grounded in either Texas regulatory authority, FEMA guidance, named carrier policy forms, or major news reporting. The glossary is the same vocabulary McDade uses with clients in audit conversations. There is no separate language for marketing versus operations.
