Home Insurance Video

How You Can Find the Best Home Insurance Company in Florida

After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, many of the best Florida home insurance companies began to leave the state. Many more exited Florida after the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005. Today the few name brand companies that remain for the most part don't write any new business. What was once a prominent list of over 500 companies is now a short list of about 40 brand new start up companies that most people have never heard of.

With all of the chaos in the Florida home insurance market, what is the best way for you to find the best Florida home insurance companies?

For starters, it's never been more important to have coverage with a private company - staying away from the bureaucracy of Citizens Property Insurance Company. While Florida's state run insurance company of last resort, is charging below market rates and competing with the private market, there are plenty of storm clouds on the horizon.

Citizens has stated that it does not charge enough in its rates to cover the risks that it is taking. Consequently, the company must borrow even before hurricanes hit in order to have enough cash available to pay claims. It has enough cash to pay for smaller hurricanes but a major event would send Citizens into the bond markets looking to borrow to pay your claim. After major storms, if you are a Citizen policyholder you will be subject to special assessments that will be higher than those who have coverage in the private market. Last but not least, Citizens has not distinguished itself with fast and fair claim payments after major hurricanes.

Moving to the private market of Florida home insurance companies, you should look for companies that have most or all of the following:

Longevity - companies that have been around longer simply have more experience and better developed systems to write policies and process claims.

Financial Stability - high financial ratings, a large surplus to pay claims, and backup reinsurance from companies that also have high ratings.

Risk Diversification - a core base of policies that include an appropriate mix of newer, inland homes balanced out against older homes that are closer to the Florida coast. The company's policy base should be geographically distributed across most of the counties in the state of Florida - not just concentrated in the South Florida coastal counties. Finally it is better to find a company that has expanded its policy base to other states in addition to Florida.

Customer Service - the company should have a reputation for excellent policyholder customer service along with a track record of fast and fair claims processing. In other words when you call them someone quickly answers the phone. If you have a billing question, they have the people skills and the systems to make things right. After a hurricane, it means that an adjuster will be scheduled quickly to come visit your home and assess the damages. And when he leaves, the company quickly values your damages and sends you a check.

Here's what you can do to figure out if the Florida home insurance company you are considering can meet your expectations in these areas:

Check the websites maintained by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and find out when the company first started doing business in Florida. Try to find a company that started doing business before the 2004 hurricanes.

Get the company's NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) code and use it to check its financial ratings with AM Best and Demotech. Find out how much surplus the company has to pay your claim. Don't bother trying to assess the quality of the company's reinsurance - the Best and Demotech ratings take that into consideration.

Ask your Florida insurance agent about each company's policy diversification across Florida and into other states as well. Find out what you can about the type of risks the company is writing. As a general rule, home insurance companies in Florida that have taken out policies from Citizens have a higher risk policy base that must be offset against newer homes that are located in the interior counties of Florida. Finally, ask your agent about the company's complaint history for the past couple of years. Rule out any company that has had a higher number of complaints filed against them relative to the amount of insurance premium they have written.

If you follow even half of these recommendations you'll be doing a lot more than the average Florida insurance consumer to find the best home insurance company to meet your needs.

Michael Letcher is a former Fortune 500 executive with W. R. Grace and Bank of America and a CPA. His on-line database can help you find, screen, and contact a Florida home insurance company to meet your needs. Get the secrets to affordable home insurance in his free newsletter at =>
http://www.homeinsurancebuyers.org

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - How You Can Find the Best Home Insurance Company in Florida

How to Put Your Florida Home Insurance Out to Bid

The Florida home insurance market is still fragmented and confusing to consumers. Despite the legislation of the past two years, it is still difficult to find affordable Florida home insurance - particularly for homes that are close to the coast or those that are older. After the exodus of most national insurance companies, Florida consumers are still faced with a limited number of newer, smaller, Florida based companies to protect their most significant investment.

With all of the uncertainty in this market, what can you do to create competition for your Florida home insurance and save the most money?

For starters, you need to understand that while there are over 450 companies licensed to write homeowners insurance in Florida, only around 40 are actually writing any new business at this time. And of those 40, only a portion of those companies are willing to cover your home. Why? Because each company establishes underwriting guidelines for the type of homes they want to insure. The two most significant factors that companies use to determine whether they want to insure your home is its age and its distance from the Florida coast.

Let's say that there are 25 companies of the 40 out there right now who are willing to cover your Florida home. The best way for you to create the most competition and to get the lowest cost home insurance would be to get a quote from each and every one of them. So how do you do that?

For starters each insurance company offers their insurance through agents that represent them. This results in a fragmented market where consumers like you run a high risk of not getting to all the companies that want to cover your Florida home due to the following:

Companies do not make their insurance available to each and every agent.

Agents do not want to offer insurance from all companies.

Some companies have captive agents that are only allowed to write coverage exclusively for their company.

Some companies sell directly to the public and bypass the agent network completely.

What does all of this mean to you?

If you shop for Florida home insurance by only contacting one insurance agent, you are guaranteed to miss out on many of the companies who want to cover your home. If you only obtain quotes from one agent, you will be limiting the competition for your Florida home insurance business and your chances of overpaying on homeowners insurance will increase dramatically.

You could rely on quote generator websites that ask you to provide sensitive, personal information. You will find some companies using this method, but you will not get to all the companies that want to cover your home. And you many get tons of unwanted phone calls and emails from multiple agents that are all representing the same company.

So what's the best way for you to get quotes from all of the Florida home insurance companies who want to cover your home?

Follow these steps to create the most competition for your Florida homeowners insurance business and you could save thousands:

Utilize Florida insurance agents that are independent - not captive agents that only represent one company.

Work with more than one independent insurance agent. If the first agent doesn't carry some of the companies that want to cover your home, the second agent just might.

Use independent agents that represent a large number of Florida homeowners insurance companies. An agent that has only four companies is too small for you. Look for agents that represent at least 10 companies or more that are actively writing new business.

Last but not least, don't ignore the Florida home insurance companies that sell directly to the public through their own agency. Get quotes from these companies directly either by phone or through their website.

These steps will dramatically increase your chances of getting to all of the companies who want to cover your Florida home. Each additional company that you can get to quote your home results in more competition and can save you thousands on homeowners insurance in Florida.

Michael Letcher is a former Bank of America executive and a licensed Certified Public Accountant. His on-line buyers guide will help you find affordable options for home insurance in Florida. Get all the secrets to low cost Florida insurance in his free newsletter at =>
http://www.homeinsurancebuyers.org

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - How to Put Your Florida Home Insurance Out to Bid