What Florida Homeowners Should Know About Insurance in 2022
If you have tried to obtain homeowner’s insurance in Florida recently, you are undoubtedly aware of some harsh realities. The insurance industry in this state is struggling, which is reflected in prices and availability, especially in home insurance policies. At first, one might blame the vast amount of claims that a few busy hurricane seasons can generate, but the industry’s biggest concern has actually become the rise of con artists.
A few years ago, there was a swell in fraudulent insurance claims for automobile windshields. Ads were placed on hiring a huge mobile sales force to convince as many car owners as possible to have their front windshields replaced which, by law, would not carry a deductible.
Now, a similar scheme is being carried out by unscrupulous roofers who convince homeowners to replace their roofs for free, via insurance claims, whether they really need it or not. This involves policyholders signing an Assignment of Benefits document, transferring the insurance policy to the roofer. Opportunistic contractors then bill insurance entities with inflated claims. When insurers put their foot down, the roofers launch a volley of lawsuits, and it is this ill-considered litigation that is draining the most resources from the insurers of record.
Along with claims related to severe weather and the reality of rising seas already beginning to encroach on shoreline properties, these new expenditures are confronting private insurers with a seemingly insurmountable challenge.
Why is Homeowners Insurance in Florida So Expensive?
One solution for insurance companies is to pull out of certain geographical areas altogether. Sadly, this step has already occurred in the case of wind insurance, as it’s virtually impossible to get a vulnerable property insured against wind storms in hurricane-prone South Florida without turning to the “insurer of last resort”, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
The next option that private insurance companies are exploring is to put limits and conditions on the roofs of the properties they will insure. For example, some carriers will only issue insurance policies on roofs less than a decade old, and they also put a ceiling on their coverage.
Florida Homeowners Insurance Rates Increase
The solution that is most distasteful to consumers and the insurance industry itself is the final option: raising rates. Homeowners who have received notice of insurance cancellation are finding that, even with diligent shopping, the only policies they are being offered are considerably more expensive than the policy they had in the first place. Stories are being heard of premiums that are as much as triple that of the policy that was revoked.
State of Florida Homeowners Insurance Regulation
Florida legislators are trying to find a way of giving overburdened homeowners some relief in this dilemma. A bill passed in 2020 aims to support the flagging insurance industry in Florida so that they don’t need to rely on solutions that are so uncomfortable to all concerned.
It takes the right kind of advisors to help you navigate through any form of insurance coverage. Rely on Skylake of Hollywood, a full-service general lines insurance agency licensed in the State of Florida. The experts at Skylake can help you make informed, sensible, and affordable decisions about insuring yourself, your family, your home, and your business. If you’ve got questions about insurance, the folks at Skylake can supply answers that can clarify and focus your insurance requirements.
The SKY is the limit when your dreams are properly INSURED.
