Car and home insurance you didn't know you had - Live Insurance News

Your car and homeowner's insurance policies may cover things you have not thought about. This may vary depending on the type of coverage that you have, as well as your limits of liability. It is good to know that the coverage is there when you need it.

In the case of a terrorist attack, damage to your personal property may be covered. Damages to your vehicle will be covered if you have comprehensive coverage.

Also with comprehensive coverage, if you let a friend borrow your car and they get into an accident, your car insurance covers whoever is driving the car.  They may still be covered even if they do not have their own car insurance.

Car insurance companies usually offer road-side assistance coverage for an additional charge which is fairly inexpensive.  This provides assistance and will cover costs associated with flat-tire change, towing, battery jumpstarts, locksmith services, and emergency fuel and fluid delivery.

Should you have personal possessions stolen out of your car, instead of calling your car insurance company, call your homeowners' insurance company.  Car insurance doesn't cover the theft of your personal items. However, you will need to pay your homeowners insurance deductible and file a police report before you will be compensated.

For more information about exactly what is covered on your car or home insurance policy, check with your insurance agent. Agents know the specifics about your policies. They can help you know exactly what you are covered for.

More homes added on new Howard County flood maps - Baltimore Sun

County officials are urging residents to purchase insurance policies if their homes have recently been added to newly redrawn flood insurance rate maps.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency worked with Maryland's Department of the Environment to overhaul the statewide maps, which show which homes and businesses are most susceptible to flooding, and thus are generally required to buy flood insurance .

In Howard County, the maps have not changed since 1986. Because of better technology, an additional 360 residences and 130 other structures near rivers and streams will be identified as being at risk of flooding, unless their owners appeal.
"The flood plain itself was always there. The water went where it was going to go," said Howard Saltzman, chief of the county's storm water management division. But, "now we are more accurately trying to predict where it floods. We've improved our prediction on how much will flood."

Residents whose homes are included in the flood insurance rate maps and have mortgages backed by federally insured banks must buy a flood insurance policy. The policy is separate from a basic home insurance policy, though flood insurance can be purchased through the same provider.

"We're not just saying there's a hazard, but you will be required to purchase flood insurance," Saltzman said.

Even for homes within the flood plain that are mortgage-free, he said, officials strongly recommend owners buy flood insurance. And when those homes are sold, the new owners will be required to purchase flood insurance.

Regular home insurance policies do not cover flood damage, Saltzman said, although homeowners may be able to obtain flood policies through their insurance agent.

He said residents should go to the county's website, where they can type in their address and see if the property is in the flood plain. Most, however, should have already received a notice from the county. He urged people whose homes are on the map to obtain flood insurance sooner rather than later.

Many homes could be eligible to be grandfathered into lower rates. "Everybody should at least ask about it," he said.

Saltzman said residents throughout the county could be affected.

"It's not necessarily new homes, but with the flood plain broader, they might be in the proposed flood plain," he said.

The county does not permit new development in flood plains.

"Better, more accurate information and better models used to determine where the flood plain is," he said. They more accurately show how much water, evaluating the width and the pressure. The new maps are also more user-friendly. They are more detailed and show new roads that cross streams, making it easier to view specific areas.

He said even if residents have not received a notice, they should look at the maps — it's possible the house isn't within the new boundaries but a piece of their property could be, which might prompt homeowners to purchase insurance.

Residents can appeal, but, he said, "it's not easy to do." The appeals deadline is Aug. 17. Appeals should be submitted to Saltzman's office, which will file them with FEMA. FEMA expects to finalize the new maps by January and they are scheduled to take effect next July.

At a meeting last week, some residents were upset about having to purchase flood insurance, but he said, being aware of the risks is important.

"If you are at risk, don't you want to know?" he said.

To see if your home will be affected, check out the map at: http://data.howardcountymd.gov/GFloodplain/GFloodplain.asp

More information is available at: http://www.howardcountymd.gov/DFIRM.htm

For more information, contact the county's storm water management department at DoIFlood@HowardCountyMD.gov or 410-313-6444.

jkanderson@baltsun.com

Florida's property insurance mess: No solution in sight - Sun-Sentinel (blog)

By Michael Mayo May 21, 2012 11:47 AM

Got some good reader feedback on my Sunday print column on South Florida's ongoing property insurance mess and the higher costs/lower coverage for homeowners stuck with state-run Citizens Property insurance.

I'll share some feedback below, after the jump. Some readers pointed out that Citizens has been drastically cutting back "mitigation credits" for things like storm shutters and windows, allowing them to raise rates beyond the supposed 10 percent cap. Some readers were irked at getting dropped by insurance giants like Allstate and State Farm, who seem to want all profit and no risk. And some want national catastrophe insurance, but that's going to be a tough sell because of troubles with the national flood insurance program and the smaller-government mood in Congress.

As I wrote in the column:

Higher rates and diluted coverage are going to be recurring themes in coming years for Citizens policyholders, as company executives and state politicians try to shrink the customer base from its current 1.45 million. Citizens, which had only 1 million policies a few years ago, keeps growing as private insurers flee the state or go bankrupt.

The problem: Citizens is a virtual monopoly in many areas, including large swaths of South Florida, so there is no consumer choice. For many of the 337,000 Citizens customers in Broward and Palm Beach counties (myself included), there is no private insurance alternative. And if private insurers won't come back until rates are allowed to climb to the stratosphere and Citizens bleeds us dry getting there, then a competitive market seems pretty meaningless.

From Ben Lowe of Boynton Beach:

Citizens keeps having these new inspections that purposely look for small, insiginificant reasons to raise premiums. In fact, in this last round, I was told I would lose a huge discount because my roof is pre-2001, even thought it is made of solid, concrete tile. The Citizen's agent admitted to me that I would get the discount if I replaced the roof with a cheap shingle roof even though it wouldn't be as good as the one I already have.

From Gregory Murphy of Lighthouse Point:

We also dropped our windstorm; we were able to do so because our mortgage has been paid off. Our policy went up 50% this year to $4,000.00 with a $20,000.00 deductible...How will we sell our homes when the windstorm rates plus homeowners rates make our homes unsaleable? Imagine what the rates will become in five, ten or fifteen years. No one will be able to afford the mortgage along with the exponentially exploding insurance rates. A big thank you to our Florida State Legislature for handling this crisis so well!!

From Marc Velletri:

The other thing happening is Citizens is removing all windstorm mitigation credits. Two years ago after I paid for my own wind mitigation inspection, I received $934 in credits from Citizens. This year they demanded a new inspection. I spent two days with their inspector who must have taken 100 photographs of my property and wanted to see original labels of impact windows that were installed in 2005 (he claimed the stamps in the corner of the glass were not legible when any moron can tell they are impact windows). The end result was all credits were removed and I was notified my premium would increase by $975. My neighbor saw his go up by $1,400...We are getting to the point that you have to be rich to afford to own a home in South Florida just because of the insurance and property taxes.

From Thomas J. Hyle Jr.:

I can find no other insurance than Citizens. Me and my family have lived in South Florida for 3 generations. We have always been with State Farm: Only 3 claims in 49 years...2 for robberies and 1 for my screen after Wilma. I was dropped despite that fact that I have always had shutters. All I can assume is that these companies are not really insurance companies ( where there is always risk) but in the guaranteed profit only business.

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Home insurance rates set to go up in near future - Live Insurance News

The cost of home insurance in Chicago is expected to rise for the third consecutive year, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Premiums are estimated to raise an average of 2-3% with coastal areas experiencing higher increases. Hurricanes are less of a concern as damages have been minimal in recent years. The increased loss from rain and winter storms, however, is playing a major role in hiking homeowner's coverage.

The institute claims that when the fiscal year of 2010 comes to a close, the average premiums for home insurance will have raised by 1%, or $807.

The Consumer Federation of America has issues the "Buyer's Guide to Insurance," available for free through its website, in light of the news. Other state regulators have published consumer guides to help consumers make the informed decisions when seeking to make changes to their coverage.

Regulators are encouraging policyholders to shop around. There are a number of agencies throughout the state that offer "find and agent" tools that connect consumers with both independent and exclusive insurance agents. People are also being encouraged to ask their insurers questions should they be concerned with rising rates and how it will affect them specifically.

The Allstate Corp. reported that its average premiums for home insurance policies in Chicago rose by 7.1% in 2010. Chief Executive of Allstate says that policyholders should "expect to see it go up again" this year as well.

The Illinois Department of Insurance has listed the contact information of six rating agencies, who routinely evaluate the credibility of insurers, on their website in order to provide shoppers with another tool to protect themselves from dangerous "too-good-to-be-true" policies.

Insurers pulling back on hurricane discount - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

<p>The price shock can be dramatic: Englewood retirees Bob and Janet Dodds will pay 100 percent more for their windstorm insurance and Venice resident Henry Holzapfel another 50 percent this year.</p><p>In both cases, state-run Citizens Property Insurance is demanding nearly $1,000 in additional premium annually from the homeowners as part of an aggressive effort to strip policyholders of discounts for hurricane-resistant home features such as storm shutters and reinforced roofs.</p><p>Without applying to state regulators for rate increases, state-run Citizens and many private insurers are substantially increasing premiums for tens of thousands of Florida homeowners through a controversial home reinspection effort that is roiling the property insurance market this year after a slow ramp-up.</p><p>Citizens alone is conducting 209,000 inspections in 2012 to verify that hurricane discounts were properly awarded. So far, policyholders are getting stuck with larger bills 62 percent of the time, according to data presented at a Citizens meeting last week. The average premium increase: $600 per year.</p><p>Overall, Citizens' reinspections are creating a 23 percent rate jump for homeowners, even as the company is restricted to 10 percent annual increases through normal rate-setting. </p><p>As of April, Citizens had collected $108 million in additional premium revenue from reducing or eliminating hurricane discounts for roughly 108,000 customers over the last two years. Comparable figures for private insurers are not available.</p><p>The reinspection effort is unwinding a program begun in 2002 to reward homeowners with hurricane-resistant structures, and those who make improvements. The discounts, which every property insurer in Florida is required to provide, were doubled in 2007 to help lessen the impact of rising insurance rates and encourage homeowners to defend against future storms.</p><p>But private insurers balked, arguing that the discounts were too generous and that inspectors often distorted findings to help homeowners. State Farm cited them as a big reason for its decision to stop writing new Florida policies.</p><p>Responding to the insurance industry, state lawmakers made changes that are just now reaching their full impact on policyholders. The loss of discounts is putting more upward pressure on already-high premiums, straining homeowners' budgets in a struggling economy and raising concerns that Florida's aging housing stock will become more vulnerable to hurricanes if residents have fewer incentives to protect against storms.</p><p>Citizens — with more than 1.4 million policies it is Florida's largest property insurer — has implemented one of the most aggressive reinspection programs. Every policy with more than $650 in credits is being reinspected in the first phase.</p><p>One Sarasota insurance agent said that two to three customers call daily complaining about the reinspections.</p><p>Back-door rate </p><p>Lyn Suter, an agent with Sarasota's East County Insurance, acknowledges that some inspectors may have been too generous in awarding past discounts, but adds that Citizens and other insurers have swung too far in the opposite direction.</p><p>Suter finds it hard to believe more than 60 percent of the original inspections were flawed.</p><p>"Citizens comes out and says you're not going to get the discount because you're missing one nail on a strap, so of course the customer is unhappy," Suter said. "They're being very aggressive with it."</p><p>A Broward County man who lost his hurricane discounts filed a class-action lawsuit against Citizens earlier this year. The homeowner's attorney describes the reinspection program on the law firm's website as a "scheme by Citizens to circumvent the cap on rate hikes."</p><p>Bob Dodds, the Englewood resident, said he does not plan to join the suit, but is petitioning Citizens to review his case.</p><p>From 2000 to 2006, Dodds meticulously researched the best products to protect his home in a hurricane. He spent $12,000 on Bermuda shutters, reinforced skylights and a garage door braced with thick metal cross beams.</p><p>After learning about the discounts for hurricane protections, Dodds called his insurance agent in 2008 and was given the names of three inspectors. He picked the first on the list. The inspector submitted a report to Citizens and Dodds' wind insurance dropped from $1,940 to $865 per year.</p><p>In September, Citizens sent a new inspector to Dodds' home. Nearly every aspect of the original inspection was challenged. Dodds recently received a letter from Citizens saying his bill will more than double in August.</p><p>A retired high school industrial arts teacher who built his own home in upstate New York, Dodds is familiar with building materials and construction techniques. He agreed with some aspects of Citizens' reinspection.</p><p>The first report gave him credit for roofing nails instead of the weaker staples that actually were used. There were other inaccuracies, but Dodds believes the Citizens report does not acknowledge all the improvements he has made over the years.</p><p>"I definitely didn't get credit where credit was due," he said.</p><p>Holzapfel, the Venice resident, is challenging his Citizens reinspection from October. The report resulted in a February letter notifying Holzapfel his windstorm premium would increase from $2,100 to $3,100 on a home near the beach with an insured value of $500,000.</p><p>Holzapfel has spent $45,000 on new windows, hurricane shutters, a wind-resistant garage door and other improvements over the last two years to protect his home in a storm. </p><p>But what really bothers him is the loss of a discount relating to his roof, which was replaced in January 2002. Citizens only gives discounts for roofs installed after Feb. 28, 2002.</p><p>He sent Citizens a letter from the roofing company president saying the roof meets all current building standards and would be installed exactly the same today.</p><p>"They strip the discount away and don't give you a rationale other than a date," Holzapfel said. The arbitrary cutoff "just doesn't make any sense."</p><p>Holzapfel said he would have installed the hurricane protections regardless of the discounts, but he believes the reinspections could deter others from retrofitting their homes. That fallout could range from fewer storm shutters sold to increased damage and more claims after a hurricane.</p><p>"If there's no incentive to do that, think about our economy," he said.</p><p>Getting what's due </p><p>Insurance industry officials say the reinspections ensure that homeowners are not getting discounts for building features that will do nothing to protect a structure in a hurricane.</p><p>Sam Miller, a spokesman for the Florida Insurance Council, said there was a "huge error rate" among inspectors who gave out the original discounts.</p><p>"It turns out, for a variety of reasons, people are getting the discounts with no basis," Miller said. "If someone does not qualify for a certain level of discounts, he or she never should have gotten them."</p><p>Citizens spokeswoman Christine Ashburn noted the company still gives nearly $1 billion in hurricane discounts annually.</p><p>"It's really important those folks who have the features get the credits, but if you don't have the features that reduce the likelihood of risk, those credits are not owed to you," Ashburn said.</p><p>The insurance industry successfully pushed legislation that requires better documentation of inspections, penalties for false information, more training for inspectors and independent verification by the insurer.</p><p>Ken Vanpelt conducts 20 to 30 wind mitigation inspections a month through his North Port company, Southwest Sun Home Inspections.</p><p>He said there were "a handful of inspectors who didn't really care as long as they could make a buck," but believes the reinspection programs have gone too far.</p><p>"I think they're being harsh," Vanpelt said. "I don't think the error percentage could be that high. I think you have a lot of good inspectors out there doing a good job. Most of the guys I've met are honorable people."</p><p>Dodds and his wife live off Social Security payments and his New York teacher's pension.</p><p>Their total insurance cost will hit $4,105 — $342 a month — on a home with an insured value of $289,000 when their Citizens wind policy is renewed in August.</p><p>The couple are preparing to sell the home, in part because of the rising insurance costs. They and other Citizens customers have watched as the company has taken other steps in the past year to make the insurer less attractive in order to shed policies and reduce its overall liability, including cutting coverage of carports, sheds and other structures.</p><p>"What's going to happen to the real estate market down here?" Dodds asked. "And that's supposed to be No. 1 for the state's economy?"</p>

Review homeowners insurance coverage regularly - GoErie.com

Review homeowners insurance coverage regularly

At least once a year, it's a good idea to review the insurance coverage on your biggest asset: your home.

Your homeowners insurance coverage should start with a replacement cost policy that covers the entire expense of replacing your home if there is a loss.

You also can opt for what's sometimes called a "guaranteed" replacement policy that typically includes around 25 percent of additional coverage over the estimated value to replace your home.

No matter what type of home insurance you have, there are many ways to adjust your coverage, whether you need to add to your policy to cover Grandma's diamond broach or buy separate protection to guard against flood damage.

Supplement figures generated by your insurer for the replacement cost of your home by getting a second opinion from a local contractor.

Ask for an estimate of the real-world cost of rebuilding your home, including the expense of demolishing the structure, said public adjuster Robert Freitag, president of AmeriClaims Inc. in North Carolina.

"The agents plug in square footage and construction materials, and (the computer) spits out a figure," Freitag said. "Sometimes it's on, and a lot of times it's off."

Some other things to consider:

- Additions and interior renovations, such as a new kitchen, remodeled bathroom or finished basement, could push your home past its current insured value.

- If you put in a pool, you may need to upgrade your homeowners (insurance), but you also may need umbrella liability insurance.

- "If you have jewelry that costs more than $1,000, you will want to think about an additional endorsement, or you can buy a separate policy.

- If your policy only covers items stolen from your home or destroyed by fire, another strategy is to purchase a so-called floater policy for high-value items.

- Replacement cost policies usually don't include the same level of coverage for contents. Reimbursements for clothes and furniture is typically based on a percentage of the home's replacement value.

-- from wire reports

All pain, no gain for Citizens insurance customers - Sun-Sentinel

Paying more and getting less is the new motto for homeowners stuck with state-run Citizens Property Insurance. Old and new customers alike are getting socked with rate hikes, higher deductibles, more exclusions…and no place else to turn for hurricane coverage.

"I was just so happy to get a renewal notice and not a cancellation notice, I didn't really pay attention to the other stuff," said Ira Goldstein, 55, of Delray Beach.

Goldstein's private insurer dropped him in 2010, when his home developed problems with Chinese drywall. In two years with the state-run insurer of last resort, Goldstein's premium has jumped from $1,667 to $2,106, a 26 percent increase.

Meantime, Citizens no longer covers things like sheds, pools and screened-in porches.

Higher rates and diluted coverage are going to be recurring themes in coming years for Citizens policyholders, as company executives and state politicians try to shrink the customer base from its current 1.45 million. Citizens, which had only 1 million policies a few years ago, keeps growing as private insurers flee the state or go bankrupt.

The problem: Citizens is a virtual monopoly in many areas, including large swaths of South Florida, so there is no consumer choice. For many of the 337,000 Citizens customers in Broward and Palm Beach counties (myself included), there is no private insurance alternative. And if private insurers won't come back until rates are allowed to climb to the stratosphere and Citizens bleeds us dry getting there, then a competitive market seems pretty meaningless.

When longtime Fort Lauderdale resident Sherry Friedlander got her Citizens policy renewal earlier this year, she balked at the $4,000 windstorm premium and $38,000 deductible.

"It means I have to pay $42,000 out of pocket before I see one dime after a storm," said Friedlander, who lives east of Federal Highway. "I called my agent and asked who else is writing hurricane policies. He said, 'Nobody.'

So she did something dramatic. She dropped her windstorm policy.

"A lot of my neighbors have done the same thing," Friedlander said. "I'm not happy about it."

Because she owns her home outright and doesn't have a mortgage, she has the option of "going naked" when it comes to property insurance. But homeowners with mortgages are required to carry insurance by their lenders. If homeowners can't find insurance on their own, exorbitant "lender-placed" insurance is imposed.

Property insurance rates might not be high enough to be "actuarially sound" for private insurers spooked by Hurricane Andrew and the freak 2004-2005 storm years, but they're plenty high enough for homeowners battered by the housing meltdown, flat wages and high unemployment.

Digging through my own records was an eye-opener. When I bought my older home in Dania Beach in 2000, I paid a total of $1,493 for separate windstorm, fire/theft and flood insurance policies. With my latest policy renewals, including a 10 percent increase from Citizens, I'll be paying just over $5,000 for property insurance this year.

I can only wonder, how much more actuarially sound can things get before we all go broke?

mmayo@tribune.com or 954-356-4508.