Since hurricane Andrew in 1991 and the multiple storms of 2004 and 2005, buying home insurance has been very costly for Floridians.\u00a0 I can remember selling policies for less than $200 per year and it included unlimited replacement cost AND sinkhole coverage.\u00a0 Those days of premium and coverage are long gone.<\/p>\n
Several companies have come to Florida to satisfy the need for home insurance coverage, only to be taken over by the insurance department just a few years later.\u00a0 It is frustrating for consumers who want quality coverage at a competitive price.\u00a0 Many people have taken to the Internet to find such a policy; however, in today\u2019s misperception of a lower price means a better policy, consumers have fallen prey to what I call the \u201cinsurance stripper\u201d.<\/p>\n
My definition of an insurance stripper is someone who removes valuable internal coverage just to sell a policy.\u00a0 In my 25 years of being in the insurance business, never did I think I would use the words \u2013 \u201cinsurance and stripper\u201d in the same sentence!<\/p>\n
We used to see very minor rate differences between agencies, but now we are seeing hundreds of dollars even with the same company.\u00a0 Many consumers don\u2019t realize that coverage for coverage and company for company, the premiums should be identical from all agents.\u00a0 Insurance rates are regulated and must be approved by Florida Financial Services (the insurance department).\u00a0 When you see rates from the same company vary by $500 or more, it is likely you are getting a \u201cstripped\u201d policy.\u00a0 Stripper agents will underinsure your home, remove replacement coverage from the contents, lower contents limits, remove detached structures coverage, and reduce liability coverage to $100,000.\u00a0 To me, this is like someone buying a nice shiny car; it looks great inside and out, but when they go to start the car, it does not go anywhere because it does not have an engine!<\/p>\n
Here is an example of what happens at claim time should you purchase a \u201cstripped\u201d policy that does not have replacement coverage on your contents.\u00a0 Insured has a lighting strike and has damages to a TV, a computer, refrigerator, and the A\/C compressor unit.\u00a0 The cost to replace<\/span> these items could easily be over $8000.\u00a0 But if replacement cost coverage has been removed, you would receive the depreciated<\/span> value, which could easily be less than $1750.\u00a0 In a nutshell, it means that the insurance company is going to give you \u201cgarage sale\u201d prices for your personal possessions.\u00a0 Things get even worse when a home is underinsured!<\/p>\n When it comes to purchasing home insurance, do your research.\u00a0 Call an agent that is recommended to you.\u00a0 When you get a quote, ask lots of questions.\u00a0 Compare the coverage.\u00a0 And remember, it is just as important to know what is not covered, as it is to know what is covered.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since hurricane Andrew in 1991 and the multiple storms of 2004 and 2005, buying home insurance has been very costly for Floridians.\u00a0 I can remember selling policies for less than $200 per year and it included unlimited replacement cost AND sinkhole coverage.\u00a0 Those days of premium and coverage are long gone. Several companies have come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runnelsinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runnelsinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runnelsinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runnelsinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runnelsinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.runnelsinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.runnelsinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/22"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runnelsinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runnelsinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runnelsinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}