Florida Homeowner's Insurance: Think Twice Before Moving Here

[Hakunamatata]

Homeowner's Insurance is a scam! They got their bottom line all right.:hammer:

Thats an awful broad brush......

I think there are thousands of people in California whose houses burned to the ground, an thousands of people in Oklahoma now that might disagree with you. Just because you had a more than bad experience with your carrier does not mean that there arent insurers out there that do everything within their power to restore their customers lives to order.

 

[echoscot]

New Orleans had problems, and there are thousands in California and Oklahoma who are or will have problems with their insurance as well.

My case is not a unique or isolated one.

The point is that what Insurance Companies care about is the bottom line, not their clients. If they can do both great, if they have to choose, guess which one loses.

The execs and the board are not going to give up their sweet bonus packages and salaries. Those are usually performance based on showing a profit.

We as clients are expected to support their profit, not dig into it.

I have had some good experiences with Insurance Companies and some bad. The housing one was the worst, since that is what this thread is about I stuck to that particular example.

I had a car accident in which I was at fault about 4 years ago State Farm more than adequately handled the situation.

However I was in another accident 10 years ago where I wasn't at fault, but because the other driver's insurance was also State Farm and they were going to take a loss either way, well, they wanted us to split the blame 50/50. That way they could raise both our rates.

I had to bring in the police report which showed the other driver with 5 citations in the accident, failure to yeild right of way, improper lane change, no driver's license, no proof of insurance, etc etc.

Ultimately with Insurance it boils down to company profits vs you the client. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose. The fact that most people are forced into playing that kind of roulette game is what makes it a scam in my opinion because you are at the mercy of a large company.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I lived in and owned a home in the greater New Orleans area during Katrina. We had virtually no damage from the storm. A lot of people we knew weren't as lucky. Our insurance company was fast and fair. Again, the majority of people we knew weren't as lucky. So many had to fight and continue to fight for what is due to them from the insurance companies that they paid premiums to for years and years. These are not small, no-name companies either. We're talking the big names in the industry.

Then came the rate hikes. My homeowners insurance at my old house pre-Katrina with replacement cost and all the bells and whistles (I sold insurance years ago) used to run me about $600 a year. My first renewal post-Katrina was $1400 and now the companies were breaking out windstorm into a separate policy. My premium more than doubled for considerably less coverage. Why? The insurance companies said they had to "recover their losses". My question is: where did all the money I paid in premiums go all the years prior to the storm? Were these companies not being responsible enough to invest the money and put it back for when we would need it? Or were they busy paying their CEOs all these million-dollar bonuses???

I no longer live in Louisiana. I can't afford to. When my escrows on my home became more than the principal & interest in my payment it was time to leave. I'm praying that the new governor can do something to help the situation (unlike the old one but I won't even start down that road). We dearly love Louisiana. We miss it so badly. We dream of going back. It's a sad day when insurance and poor legislation keeps people out of an area that wants to recover from such a disaster.

I have a lot of family in NW Florida and some in Central Florida. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you who want to be there but don't feel like you can or for those who are there who feel that hopelessness that we left behind. I truly do feel ya.

 

[Hakunamatata]

(I sold insurance years ago)

If you were in the business, you should know the answer to your questions.

Without going into a long drawn out commentary, I highly urge you to research the term "reserves" and how they affect an insurance companies financial ratings (AM Best, etc.). Its not just as simple as recovering losses to inflate profits. It has more to do with the long term stability of the company and its ability to remain financially viable.

 

[SpongeScott]

We haven't had a hurricane in Florida for two hurricane seasons. Reckon we'll get our rates reduced any time soon?

:lookaroun

:lookaroun

:lookaroun

:ROFLOL:

 

[Hakunamatata]

We haven't had a hurricane in Florida for two hurricane seasons. Reckon we'll get our rates reduced any time soon?

:lookaroun

:lookaroun

:lookaroun

:ROFLOL:

Prolly not since Florida is going to be under water in about 10 years from us driving our SUVs and all the cow flatulants.