|
|
 |
|
|
Picking the Right Florida Homeowners Insurance Company During Tough Times by Michael Letcher
|
|
|
Picking the Right Florida Homeowners Insurance Company During Tough Times |
|
|
|
|
|
Insurance,Business,Finance & Investment
|
|
Despite the fact that 2009 had a quiet Florida hurricane season, there was no shortage of news from Florida home insurance companies.
To begin with, nearly 50% of all active Florida home insurance companies lost money in 2008 - a year in which no major storms hit. Many companies continued to experience losses into 2009. Reasons for those losses include rising expenses and declining revenues from inadequate Florida home insurance rates.
As 2009 unfolded, two Florida home insurance companies failed and were placed in receivership by the state after their cash reserves fell below the required minimum levels.
Homeowners insurance companies failing during non-hurricane years should send fear and panic across the state. Why? Because if these companies can't make money in non-hurricane years the odds increase dramatically that they will not be able to build up enough cash to pay your claim after a major Florida hurricane.
A closer inspection of the company that failed in the spring of 2009 reveals disturbing trends that could affect other Florida home insurance companies in the future.
To begin with this company faced a significant number of new and reopened claims from Hurricane Wilma - a storm that struck Florida nearly four years ago in October of 2005. These claims contributed to the ultimate collapse of this company because its backup reinsurance from 2005 was exhausted, leaving this small company on the hook to pay these claims from its own surplus.
In addition, this company had a large number of policies in many of Florida's southern, most hurricane prone counties in the state. To the company's credit, it also showed good faith through its willingness to cover older Florida homes.
What are the lessons from the two Florida home insurance companies that failed this year?
Even if your company meets the minimum capital and reinsurance requirements in the State of Florida it can still fail for many reasons including unexpected reopened claims from prior years and inadequate risk diversification across both Florida and into other states.
Here are the things you should look for when considering a new Florida home insurance company.
The majority of the companies still writing new home insurance in Florida are based in the state. Look for companies that are diversifying their policy base across most of the 67 counties in Florida so that they have balanced their exposure in the southern coastal counties with policies written in the northern interior counties.
Look for companies that are growing their home insurance business into other states. Some Florida home insurance companies that came into existence in the mid 1990's are beginning to do this which is an encouraging trend. Companies that distribute their risk into other parts of the country will have improved odds of surviving the next round of hurricanes.
Learn as much as you can about the company's customer service and claims processing. If a company you are considering has outsourced this work find out what their customer service history is and how many complaints they have received relative to others in the industry.
Finally, find out how much surplus the company has available to pay claims and check on their ratings with the major financial rating services. Many companies that are receiving Florida home insurance rate increases should be able to demonstrate that they can grow their surplus over time - especially if we continue to experience below average Florida hurricane activity.
You should give special preference to those Florida homeowners insurance companies who were able to make money during 2008 and 2009 when many other companies were losing money - together with those that demonstrate the ability to use higher rates going forward to increase their surplus.
In this brave new world of newly formed start-up Florida insurance companies, doing this research will give you the best chance of being paid quickly and fairly after the next round of Florida hurricanes.
Michael Letcher is a Fortune 500 executive and a licensed CPA. His on-line buyers guide can help you find affordable Florida home insurance companies. Get the secrets to low cost Florida insurance at => http://www.homeinsurancebuyers.org
Related Articles -
Florida home insurance companies, Florida hurricane, Florida homeowners insurance companies, Hurricane Wilma, Florida home insurance policies,
|
Rate This Article  |
|
|
|
|
|
Do you Agree or Disagree? Have a Comment? POST IT!
| Reader Opinions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Author Login |
|
|
 |
Advertiser Login
ADVERTISE HERE NOW!
Limited Time $60 Offer!
90 Days-1.5 Million Views
|
|
TIM FAY
After 60-plus years of living, I am just trying to pass down some of the information that I have lea...more
|
|
|
|
|
GENE MYERS
Author of four books and two screenplays; frequent magazine contributor. I have four other books "in...more
|
|
|
|
|
LAURA JEEVES
At LeadGenerators, we specialise in content-led Online Marketing Strategies for our clients in the t...more
|
|
|
|
|
ALEX BELSEY
I am the editor of QUAY Magazine, a B2B publication based in the South West of the UK. I am also the...more
|
|
|
|
|
SUSAN FRIESEN
Located in the lower mainland of B.C., Susan Friesen is a visionary brand strategist, entrepreneur, ...more
|
|
|
|
|
STEPHEN BYE
Steve Bye is currently a fiction writer, who published his first novel, ‘Looking Forward Through the...more
|
|
|
|
|
SHALINI MITTAL
A postgraduate in Fashion Technology. Shalini is a writer at heart! Writing for her is an expression...more
|
|
|
|
|
ADRIAN JOELE
I have been involved in nutrition and weight management for over 12 years and I like to share my kn...more
|
|
|
|
|
JAMES KENNY
James is a Research Enthusiast that focuses on the understanding of how things work and can be impro...more
|
|
|
|
