Florida Home Owners Insurance

[Murphjup]

I FORGOT.

If you have State Farm as your auto carrier, CANCEL THEM when they cancel you! I've a feeling since our insurance commissioner is too chicken to kick them out for cherry picking what insurance types to write, if all the poeple in Fl who have State Farm for Auto Coverage told them to get lost they might be willing to stick around.

No Im gonna cancel them before they cancel me... the handwriting is in the wall.. they will be dropping coverage here in Florida.

Along with that will go my Other insurance I have with them, I will be dammed if I'm giving them another dime after 30 years of faithfully paying them...

165Striper.. thank you, I live in the Farms also, and I have a few workable quotes... they are taking into account wind mitigation and fire/hydrant locatons... I will ask my agent about Royal Palm...

[ScarabChris]

Like Chris said, but beware there are a lot of smaller Ins Co. coming to FL to do buss. These companies are buying up policies by the thousands and they are a nightmare to get them to settle small claims.. I do not want to see what will happen when they have large losses, like a HURRICANE... Try and get coverage through Citizens.... I deal with Ins co every day and they are the best thing thats available when it comes to settling claims...

Also, if you havent done so already have a wind mitigation and a 4 point inspection on your home and if your home qualifies you will receive HUGE deductions on your premium...

Good Luck.....

Ha! I Because I live on the water in South Florida I have no choice but to have Citizens for my windstorm. I pay 3K a year just for the wind with Citizens. When Hurrican Wilma came through I had some minor damage. All in all about 6K total and 3K of that was for some roof damage. The A-Hole Citizens adjuster came out and made me feel good about everything.

Low and behold I get $368.00 to replace 400 SF of roof! It took over a year of phone calls and a public adjuster to get was was promised, then I had to give a good chunk of that to the adjuster. Citizens are nothing but crooks given legal means to extort money from us.

[emudryj]

Ha! I Because I live on the water in South Florida I have no choice but to have Citizens for my windstorm. I pay 3K a year just for the wind with Citizens. When Hurrican Wilma came through I had some minor damage. All in all about 6K total and 3K of that was for some roof damage. The A-Hole Citizens adjuster came out and made me feel good about everything.

Low and behold I get $368.00 to replace 400 SF of roof! It took over a year of phone calls and a public adjuster to get was was promised, then I had to give a good chunk of that to the adjuster. Citizens are nothing but crooks given legal means to extort money from us.

Hey !!! Chris I went through the same with another company (southern oak) at the same time....

Before my story, bare in mind that at that time I was just a brand new first time homeowner, with no experience whatsoever on home insurance.

To make the story short.

My roof got 10 leaks, due to the hurricane, so I call my agent to file a claim... the broker give me the foot and send me to do my own work with the ins co.

Without knowing... I said "what the heck, I'll do it", call the ins co, file the claim, adjuster came, very nice and friendly guy that agreed with everything... 2 weeks later I got a letter denying everything because of "regular wear and tear"

Not knowing any better... thinking that I was screwed and wanting to move on, I started to fix the roof.

At the same time, 13 of my other neighbors that had citizens got "NEW METAL ROOF!!!!!!"

4 years later and with more experience, I learned my lesson and this time around I hired a Public adjustor to handle 2 claims that I have (water damage, and floor damage) best 20% commission I've ever paid......

They do not fool around.. and the ins co know it... if the claim is valid, these guys will make you whole and maybe a little bit better, even after their commison and the deductible. They know, what to say, when, How, and to who.

The more you got, the more they get, so they will fight for every cent....

I do not know if you can still reopen your claim since is old, but if you want to give it a try, let me know and I'll give you the number for this guy...

Bottom line: common perception is that we pay a monthly premium so they cover you and pay you if you ever have a claim.

BUT THE TRUTH IS

we pay the Ins co, so they can fight us and try not to pay us when we have a claim knowing that most home owners do not know how or what to exactly say when filing a claim, ergo they will find that little technicality to deny the claim...

So we pay another guy, a Public adjustor, (that knows where and how to hit the ins co) so they get maybe twice the money that the ins co was supposed to give us if they would have paid the claim the first time.

[Sea N Double]

Hey !!! Chris I went through the same with another company (southern oak) at the same time....

Before my story, bare in mind that at that time I was just a brand new first time homeowner, with no experience whatsoever on home insurance.

To make the story short.

My roof got 10 leaks, due to the hurricane, so I call my agent to file a claim... the broker give me the foot and send me to do my own work with the ins co.

Without knowing... I said "what the heck, I'll do it", call the ins co, file the claim, adjuster came, very nice and friendly guy that agreed with everything... 2 weeks later I got a letter denying everything because of "regular wear and tear"

Not knowing any better... thinking that I was screwed and wanting to move on, I started to fix the roof.

At the same time, 13 of my other neighbors that had citizens got "NEW METAL ROOF!!!!!!"

4 years later and with more experience, I learned my lesson and this time around I hired a Public adjustor to handle 2 claims that I have (water damage, and floor damage) best 20% commission I've ever paid......

They do not fool around.. and the ins co know it... if the claim is valid, these guys will make you whole and maybe a little bit better, even after their commison and the deductible. They know, what to say, when, How, and to who.

The more you got, the more they get, so they will fight for every cent....

I do not know if you can still reopen your claim since is old, but if you want to give it a try, let me know and I'll give you the number for this guy...

Bottom line: common perception is that we pay a monthly premium so they cover you and pay you if you ever have a claim.

BUT THE TRUTH IS

we pay the Ins co, so they can fight us and try not to pay us when we have a claim knowing that most home owners do not know how or what to exactly say when filing a claim, ergo they will find that little technicality to deny the claim...

So we pay another guy, a Public adjustor, (that knows where and how to hit the ins co) so they get maybe twice the money that the ins co was supposed to give us if they would have paid the claim the first time.

YES, you can re-open an old hurricane claim !!!!!!!!!!!! Your also right emudryj, those are the best 20% you can pay for this type of situation.... I know im in the buisness...

[Sea N Double]

Ha! I Because I live on the water in South Florida I have no choice but to have Citizens for my windstorm. I pay 3K a year just for the wind with Citizens. When Hurrican Wilma came through I had some minor damage. All in all about 6K total and 3K of that was for some roof damage. The A-Hole Citizens adjuster came out and made me feel good about everything.

Low and behold I get $368.00 to replace 400 SF of roof! It took over a year of phone calls and a public adjuster to get was was promised, then I had to give a good chunk of that to the adjuster. Citizens are nothing but crooks given legal means to extort money from us.

You guys are so on the money, these Ins adjusters come in and really nice and make you feel everything is just going to be great...

Then when they get back to the office they either deny your claim or pay you peanuts compared to the real damages...

[Fishin_blues]

Back to the original question, I currently have Univeral Insurance. One of the few people that were writing new beachside policies a couple of years ago. Servicewise they take my money very well. Don't know how well they pay out though since I haven't had a claim.

Fishin_Blues

[ScarabChris]

They all have no problem taking your money and do it very well. Unfortunatly you will have to wait until you need ti file a claim to see how well they pay out.

Its a shame about State Farm. At the time of the above mentioned hurricane while I was getting screwed by Citizens State Farm really stepped up when it came to repairing my cars damaged by the hurricane. I was very pleasantly surprised they took such good care of us. I am so used to being screwed by the insurance companies.

My wind it through the crooks at Citizens but State Farm is the agent, nothing will change there. But my regular homeowners and flood insurance is with State Farm directly so we will see if they are able to just transfer the coverage to another carrier.

I also have my auto, boat and life insurance with State Farm. I know the auto and life won't be affected but the boat very may well be. That will be the deciding factor because I am paying a rate that I have had for many years. If I try to insure it with someone else now it will likely be double or more.

If SF dropps my boat I will take every penny of my business to other carriers. I think if State Farm wants to operate in FL they shouldn't be able to pick and choose which will leave thousands of people high and dry.

[Sea N Double]

Is it Universal property and casualty or just Universal ?? Either way it all depends on the type of claim and amount of the claim...

From my dealings with them if its a substantial claim $$$ they tend to put you through the ringer, but at the end of the day THEY WILL ANSD HAVE TO PAY !!!!

[Ludicrous]

If SF dropps my boat I will take every penny of my business to other carriers. I think if State Farm wants to operate in FL they shouldn't be able to pick and choose which will leave thousands of people high and dry.

It's not IF, it's when. They ARE dropping HO and boats in Florida. The other day we had a chat with the SF guy at the shop. We added up the SF policies for 8 the employees here, 17 polices. All of us are going to drop SF. It's a shame as they handle auto claims better than anyone else.

The politicians will still allow State Farm to write auto in Florida. But we the people should not. Cancel all your State Farm policies. The politicians will have to find other insurance executives to play golf with.

[ScarabChris]

I am actually pretty good friends with my Start Farm agent. He has been a customer of mine for many years. He called me personally to give me the run down. I made it clear to him about my intentions as I stated above.

He assured me that I wouldn't notice any change in anything other than the title on some of the policies. He knows my opinions on it and says not to worry about the boat either that he could write it with another carrier.

I do trust him, like me he lives on the water and owns a boat so he is actually in the same boat....so to speak.