Finding Private Insurance

Why you want to be standing in the "private" insurance line after the next hurricane.

Imagine the worst case.

It is fall 2008 and your home has just been hit by a major hurricane - again!

You know all the sights and sounds - no power for weeks, generators running, chainsaws cutting down broken trees, everyone dragging branches out to the street, and not a gas station open for hundreds of miles.

The damage to your home is considerable: broken roof tiles and leaks in several places, screen enclosure damaged, pool pump destroyed, and a tree in your master bedroom.

You know you have to act quickly to stop the roof leaks and to prevent the spread of mold.

It's time to pick up the phone and call your Florida homeowners insurance company to report the claim.

Who is going to come on the line at the other end to answer your call? Citizens Property Insurance Corporation - or a private insurance company such as Tower Hill or others?

At this critical moment, the best predictor of what you can expect from Citizens in 2008 is to look at what you would have experienced with them during the 2004/2005 Florida hurricanes:

You would have been one of over 303,000 claims!
As reported by Citizens own 2007 task force:
- Your claim took longer to settle than it would have if you were with other leading private insurance companies.
- You were 2.5 times more likely to file a complaint about the handling of your claim than you would have been if you were with a private insurer.
- There was at least a 50% chance that your complaint was about delays in getting your claim paid.

If 2004/2005 were challenging for Citizens, consider where the company is today:

It is still resolving claims from the 2004/2005 hurricane seasons.
It has recently formed a task force to recommend improvements to its claim handling process that won't issue its final recommendations until 2008.
It is now the largest homeowner insurance company in Florida so you will have plenty of company as you try to reach the Citizens claims department.
It has a very high concentration of the most vulnerable properties in Florida - homes that produce the most expensive and difficult claims to resolve, owned by people who will be trying to call Citizens at the same time you are.
A South Florida insurance agent with over 37 years of insurance experience said the following in early 2007: "Citizens is a state bureaucracy that daily changes the rules and procedures, and offers little or no service to customers. I have never received a request from a consumer that asked to be written with Citizens. In fact, we do everything we can to avoid them."
An attorney representing clients with outstanding claims against Citizens from the 2004/2005 hurricanes recently had the following quote about Citizens in the Palm Beach Post: "You have an insurer that just doesn't care"

The Florida Association of Insurance Agents just issued the following warnings to homeowners about Citizens last year as reported in the September 28, 2007 edition of the Palm Beach Post:

A series of hurricanes could leave you vulnerable to special assessments from Citizens - huge fees that homeowners with private insurance companies won't have to pay.
Contents coverage with Citizens is limited to half the value of your home - coverage you will need if your possessions are damaged in a major storm.
Any personal possessions stolen when the items were not at your primary residence are not covered under a Citizens policy.
If you are concerned about lawsuits, there is no ability to increase your liability coverage above $300,000.

Finally, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has recently shared that it has $1.8 billion of its cash reserves in investments that are frozen in the State Board of Administration's Local Government Investment Pool. Citizens has further acknowledged that $700 million of this amount is still invested in downgraded investments tied to the subprime mortgage crisis and that $210 million has the possibility of losing all of its value. This is a lot of uncertainty for Citizens policyholders and Florida taxpayers as we move further into 2008.

You look back at the damage to your house and press your phone to your ear as you start to call your insurance company to report the claim.

Who do you want to answer your call - Citizens or a private Florida home insurance company?

Don't get caught standing in the wrong line!

There is not an unlimited supply of private insurance in Florida.

Only Florida homeowners in the know will be able to find and purchase affordable private insurance.

And each month, only a limited amount of private insurance is available in Florida.

Act now to find private insurance companies still writing new business in your county.

Get the guide.

Find out more about the Buyers Guide.

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