ORLANDO,FLa. —
Many local homeowners who saved thousands on insurance after adding hurricane protection are in for an expensive shock. Citizens Insurance is reinspecting homes, and thousands of owners have been denied discounts.
Greg Harrigan spent a lot to harden his home against hurricanes with tougher windows, a garage door approved for Category 5 winds and a new roof, so he was dumbfounded when Citizens Insurance canceled a big hurricane discount and raised his premium by several hundred dollars.
"I was quite upset because I spent a good deal of money trying to fortify my house," he said.
The denial came after Citizens sent its own contractor to verify that Harrigan's home qualified. But his new roof flunked the reinspection.
"They told me that I had not provided proof that my roof met building code," Harrigan said.
But Harrigan claims he did everything right, so he hired a state-licensed contractor who had all the permits required, and the roof passed a city inspection.
But the Citizens inspector said that was not enough proof.
"I can't see how one contractor gives you credit and then another contractor just takes it away on behalf of Citizens," said Harrigan.
And Harrigan isn't alone. A South Florida law firm filed a class action lawsuit claiming Citizens' reinspection program is an excuse to jack up rates.
WFTV did some digging and learned that in Central Florida, Citizens has reinspected 7,000 homes, and 77 percent of the owners had premium increases by an average of $450.
The Florida Roofing Association had questioned how Citizens can reject county- and city-approved jobs.
Harrigan filed several appeals, and Citizens restored his hurricane discounts.
"I am a structural engineer, so I had an advantage and knew exactly how the roof was put together," Harrigan said.
Citizens said a new state law allows companies to establish their own guidelines for approving discounts. The company denied that any owners have lost discounts for real structural improvements.
No comments:
Post a Comment