Reducing Florida Auto Insurance Costs

Florida auto insurance costs have become ridiculously expensive and unaffordable for many with a strapped budget. Not everyone has the privilege of obtaining a scooter and eliminating insurance costs. Here are some common logical ideas which may help in reducing insurance costs in the state of Florida. First you need to understand insurance is a custom fit product, one size does not fit all. You may be living in Miami or Fort Lauderdale and have 2 cars which may run somewhere around $1800 for six months of insurance. Meanwhile the person living next door not more than 20 feet away also has 2 similar cars and pays $900 for similar or the same insurance. Auto insurance is rated on many different factors. First there is your credit score. Why should your credit score determine the cost of insurance? Simply put, statistically it shows a persons responsibility to pay bills on time and be more aware for their actions while driving. Person with a high credit score will have more fear to get behind the wheel of a car if they are intoxicated than one with a low or no credit score. Credit score is something people want to keep and retain as it brings benefits and discounts in many different financial areas. Then there is the old driving record. For those who wear seatbelts, don’t speed or at least don’t get caught at it and are lucky enough not to have any collisions with other fellow motorists or objects, receive a huge reward from insurance companies by not being surcharged for reckless behavior. Other factors which determine rates are length of driving history. Operators from certain countries outside the USA are surcharged because the insurance company can not check your driving record. Marital status believe it or not has also an effect, if you’re a single female your rate could be higher than if you were married. Florida Insurance companies are insinuating single females may have unknown friends or boyfriends which at sometime may borrow their car, this becomes a higher risk for the carrier. And of course zip code has a major role. Insurance carriers hire bean counters. People who’s job is strictly to read statistics. They create reports on every zip code in Florida state illustrating the number of accidents, speeding tickets, deaths, DUI’s, vandalism, etc. If you’re lucky enough to be in one of the congested zip codes you will enjoy the benefits of the higher cost of insurance.

Another factor why Florida auto insurance is so high is due to high loss exposure. Florida is well known for its riff raff of stolen cars, stolen parts, and accident scams. While many scammers take advantage of the Florida insurance companies assets the good paying consumers who avoid trouble have to pay for these losses and expenses. So the insurance keeps rising as cars keep increasing in value and claims grow consistently.

With all this said what is it you can do to decrease the cost. Obviously some have realized when the fantasy of owning that dream car fades the monthly payments combined with the insurance becomes a scary reality.

1. Know what your buying.

Different cars have different risks attached and are charged by the Florida insurance companies appropriately. A SUV may cost 10 to 30% more in insurance due to the fact that SUV’s have a greater risk of flipping over. Insuring a Lexus in Florida may cost more than insuring a Honda due to the value of the Lexus is substantially greater to the Honda. Choose several types of vehicles and get a preliminary quote on each one to compare how this in turn will fit into your monthly budget. Never buy in the moment, rationalize your income and expenses, too many of us buy in the moment only to regret it for the next few years. If you are leasing or borrowing money understand the vehicle belongs to someone else until you pay it off. During this time the leasing company or bank will require you carry certain limits of insurance which may be more expensive then you realize. Check your contract before you buy or sign. Unlike marriage a lease can not be broken without huge cost.

2. Minimize cost.

There’s not much discounts you can count on anymore when your buying a car because they are all included and are automatic like an alarm system. However an auto theft recovery device or Lojack can save you a significant amount on your insurance. As much as 10 to 30%. It may cost more to add it to the vehicle but the savings on insurance will pay for itself over time. Other Florida auto insurance discounts you should be aware of is homeowners discount, marital or spouse discount. It may be wise to have an insurance agent you can trust who can advise you on discounts and also possibly decreasing coverage’s to meet your financial needs. Check your driving record, you can request a copy of your driving record by using our link found at:

Steps To Protect Your Assets If A Hurricane Approaches

It has been three (3) years since Hurricane Katrina devastated both Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The 2005 Hurricane Season was one of the worst on record and caused billions of dollars in damage. The 2008 Hurricane Season is now upon us; having started on June 1st, the hurricane season runs through November 30th. The 2008 Hurricane Season was predicted to be “above average”, however to date the season and the tropics have been relatively quiet with only a few named storms, and only one that impacted south Texas. Historically however, the worse storms form in August through October. Your insurance company has not forgotten about the damages paid out in previous years. Policy owners in effected coastal and hurricane zone areas have seen rate increases year after year to pay for past losses and payouts for property damages. As a result, now is the time for home and property owners to evaluate their property casualty insurance to assure that they are covered in case of storm damage loss.

Take photos and make a list of your personal property – Normally your insurance policy has different coverages for property and personal property damages (i.e. clothes, food, furniture). By taking photos or video of both the internal and external property of your house and taking an inventory of the major items will greatly assist any claim against your insurance carrier.

Maintain trees and shrubbery and other outside objects in a safe location – trees and shrubbery branches often become missiles during a storm, and uprooted trees can actually damage roofs and trusses by colliding with houses.

Take photos immediately after the storm of damages – It is critical to take photos to show any immediate damages to property and personal property to disclose the causation factor. In other words, the storm caused the damages. Many times insurance companies will attempt to deny damages.

Keep your important documents and records in a safe place – A small lock box, or hand held file carrier can be transported easily and is a safe way to transport records and documents with you if you are required to evacuate your house.

If you lose power, save all receipts for food, hotels, and other expenses – If you are forced to evacuate your home quickly by authorities as a result of a pending storm; make sure you save your out of pocket expenses for spoiled food, hotel stays, and other expenses for having to leave your home.

Contact your insurance company immediately after the storm – Don’t wait to contact your insurance company to see if you have damages, more then likely the insurance company will be swamped with calls for damages; get inline and contact your insurance carrier to assess your damages.

Keep time for how long it takes you to clean-up. It may reimbursable. – Take notes on all the hours and expenditures you have for your clean-up efforts.

Record the name and date of the insurance adjuster that visited your home. – It is critical when an insurance adjuster visits your home that they have the correct licenses and general liability coverages required for your state.

Make sure you are given a claim number by the insurance company – Once you contact your insurance company ask them for a claim number and note the time and date of your call and if possible the person you spoke with on the phone. Note every call you make to the insurance company regarding your claim.

Do not sign any documents that say ‘release’ – Do not sign any releases on your claim. Depending on your state statutes, you may have several years to report a claim for damages.

If you feel you have been underpaid on your claim contact a Lawyer, your insurance commissioner, or even a public adjuster if your state allows that specializes in first party contract claims. Insurance companies are in business because they take in more then they pay out, and the first pass of reimbursement for damages may not amount to what you are due under the policy for final damages as a result of your loss

If you feel you have been underpaid on your claim contact an attorney, your insurance commissioner, or even a public adjuster if your state allows that specializes in first party contract claims. Insurance companies are in business because they take in more then they pay out, and the first pass of reimbursement for damages may not amount to what you are due under the policy for final damages as a result of your loss.

Do you have hurricane damage call Attorney Chris Lim at (800) 979-1937 or visit the website at Tampa Bay Lawyers. CHris has experience helping home owners as well as condo associations with there legal calims. For help in Ohio call Toledo lawyers KNR Legal.

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.

Is State Farm Getting Ready to Bailout on the State of Florida?

For years State Farm Florida Insurance Company has remained one of the few Fortune 500 homeowners insurance companies still doing business in Florida. It is still by far the largest private insurance company in the state for both homes and autos covering 1 million and 2. 5 million policyholders respectively.
They deserve credit for that.
After all, following the billions in claims from Hurricane Andrew in 1992, many large insurance companies simply left the State of Florida for good – and never looked back. That left Florida to deal with the problem on its own and caused it to create its own state run insurance company of last resort to help those who simply could not find coverage.
State Farm Florida Insurance Company did not follow this approach.
It has taken a prudent approach to the market that has been present in Florida since Hurricane Andrew. These steps have included:
Strict underwriting criteria for homes selected for new business
Multiline discounts for policyholders with home, auto, and life coverage
Selectively cancelling higher risk older homes closer to the coastline
This approach might have been successful during normal, reasonable periods of history. But things in Florida have been anything but reasonable in recent years:
From 1992 to 2004, no large insurance companies re-entered the Florida home insurance market – leaving State Farm on its own.
Florida hurricane claims in 2004 and 2005 caused billions of dollars in damage. State Farm Florida paid millions in claims and had to request an emergency cash infusion from its parent company to recapitalize it.
While the company was able to get significant rate increases after the 04/05 hurricanes, massive rate increases granted to most of the companies in Florida in 2005 and 2006 caused a major political uproar. Quite honestly, the public demanded rate relief because Florida home insurance was simply not affordable.
The pressure for lower rates was far worse due to outrageous property taxes and the collapse of the Florida real estate market.
The State of Florida reacted to voter pressure. But the results were not impressive.
The 2007 and 2008 legislation had a minimal effect on lowering homeowners insurance rates and shifted billions of dollars in catastrophic risk to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund – a state entity that has publicly stated that it can’t meet its reinsurance obligation to insurance companies in part due to the frozen bond markets.
As a result, all companies including State Farm Florida are concerned that the Florida Cat Fund won’t be there to pay them back after a major hurricane and are looking for new sources of backup reinsurance.
That, combined with other factors led the company to request a 47% rate increase a few months ago. After state regulators rejected the rate increase, the company appealed that decision in court. Recently a judge agreed with state regulators that State Farm’s 47% rate increase was not justified and also rejected the rate increase.
This brings us to where we are today – a time when many Floridians have to be wondering if State Farm Florida is preparing to exit the state for good. This would not be welcome news and would cause a major shock to the Florida homeowners insurance market as policyholders scramble to find other coverage.
In today’s uncertain times, you have to be ready to face realities. One of those might be that State Farm will cancel or drop your homeowners insurance coverage in Florida. If that happens there are several things you need to do to respond to this:
Shop your policy. Most State Farm Florida agents can only offer you homeowners coverage with Citizens after your policy is cancelled. Find a large independent agent who represents multiple companies in order to give you the best options for replacing State Farm Florida.
There are new Florida base regional insurance companies that have been created over the past 15 years, with many only being recently approved since the start of 2006. Some of these companies might be a good option to replace State Farm but you have to research each and every one of them. Check their financial ratings and customer service history thoroughly.
State Farm Florida insurance agents will be hurt by mass cancellations of home insurance policies. They have spent years building a book of insurance business in Florida. When they lose your home insurance business, they often lose your auto and life insurance business as well. While you can’t help but be sympathetic, you need to know that it is in your agent’s self interest to keep your auto and life insurance business while putting your home insurance coverage into Citizens Property Insurance. Don’t accept being placed with Citizens without looking for other private home insurance companies through other agents that can also offer you auto and life insurance.
Get all the facts if you are thinking about Citizens Property insurance. Citizens has said that it does not charge enough premium to cover the risk that it takes. It too is expecting problems borrowing to pay its claims after a major hurricane in today’s troubled bond markets. Major recommendations being presently considered at Citizens include raising rates, limiting coverage, and mandating certain home hardening measures. Do your home work on Citizens just like you would for any other company.
While we don’t know how the final situation with State Farm Florida will play out, if you follow these steps you’ll be way ahead of hundreds of thousands of policyholders that might be scrambling to get coverage all at once.

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.

How the Florida Legislature Gets You to Pay the Home Insurance Bills of Others

After Hurricane Andrew and continuing to this day, Florida home insurance companies have continued to pull out of the state or seek significant rate increases. Why? Because both Florida homeowners insurance companies and state regulators can’t seem to agree on the right amount that consumers should pay for the hurricane portion of their Florida home insurance bill.

So starting in the 1990′s, the State of Florida started to charge special assessments on each Florida home insurance policy written and formed an insurance company of last resort which today is called Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to make sure that everyone in Florida has at least one insurance company willing to cover their home or business.

The state also created an entity called The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund that requires all licensed Florida home insurance companies to purchase reinsurance once the cost of a major hurricane exceeds a certain level. This fund is insurance for Florida insurance companies and helps to make sure that they don’t have to absorb all of the costs of a major hurricane event.

Finally, Florida created a legal entity called the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) that will pay your insurance claim if your Florida homeowners insurance company is declared insolvent.

Those special assessment line items on your Florida home insurance bill can cause you to pay line item charges for many years into the future. You can be asked to make up the difference when Citizens Property Insurance Corporation and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund don’t have the money to meet their obligations. Or you could be assessed for the difference if FIGA doesn’t have the cash to pay off the claims filed against a Florida homeowners insurance company that became insolvent.

So far, at high level, each of these various entities and the protections that they offer make sense. And when they work properly they do help further diversify Florida’s hurricane risk and help make it attractive for Florida home insurance companies to continue to do business in the state.

However, the Florida Property Insurance Legislation of 2007 and 2008 have changed and politicized the mission of each of these organizations to a point where they no longer work as they were intended. Why? Because Florida legislators aren’t willing to tell voters the truth – that these entities are now seriously underfunded and not positioned to do what they are supposed to do. Even worse, many Florida consumers don’t realize that they are paying for someone else’s Florida home insurance.

At the present time, both the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and Citizens Property Insurance Corporation are underfunded and heavily dependent on an unfriendly bond market to meet their obligations. Both have to try to borrow in advance of Florida hurricanes with mixed success to raise the cash that they need and are coming up short as the country works through the financial crisis.

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is the one organization that causes each of us to subsidize the Florida insurance costs of someone else. Every one of us will be required to pay annual special assessments for many years into the future to cover the cash shortfalls that Citizens Property Insurance had as a result of the 2004/2005 storms. Cash shortfalls are just another way of saying that those who were insured with Citizens for the 2004/2005 storms, were simply not charged enough premium for that coverage. Many of those homes are older homes located near the Florida coast directly in hurricane alley. After the 2004/2005 Florida hurricanes, Florida lawmakers froze the rates being charged by Citizens – a politically popular move that also had the effect of making everyone in Florida no matter where they live, subsidize the Florida home insurance rates of those who live in the most hurricane prone areas of Florida.

Last but not least, because the rates of Citizens have been frozen for the past few years, even when consumers can find Florida home insurance in the private market, they are still given the choice of being insured by Citizens and being undercharged for their insurance.

This subsidized insurance that many Citizen policyholders receive, comes at a price. It is paid for primarily through special assessments that we all pay as part of our Florida home insurance bills each year. These assessments have become so burdensome, that Florida home insurance policies are not enough to pay the total cost. That’s why you’ll see many of them on your Florida auto and business insurance bills as well.

If you are fed up with paying the Florida homeowners insurance premiums of someone else, now is the time to have your voice heard during the current session of the Florida Legislature. Tell the lawmakers that you’ve voted for and sent to Tallahassee that you want the Florida home insurance rates of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation raised to reflect the true cost of the homes they are covering.

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Florida Health Insurance Provides Complete Health Care Solution

It is an old adage “Health is wealth” and taking care of it is the utmost priority of every human being. Considering the fact, the concept of health insurance is gaining popularity. Nowadays, the business of health insurance companies is booming and so as its seekers. Talking about the health insurance plans and offers, Florida health insurance is the unanimous choice which offers some of the best plans for individuals, families, business groups, etc. We offer various types of health insurance plans according to your needs and requirements. Whether you are looking for temporary, group or dental health insurance plans, Florida health insurance companies are one stop solution provider of your entire health care needs. Types of Health Insurance plansFlorida health insurance plans are designed keeping in mind the customer’s need and requirement. Basically, Indemnity and managed care plans are the two types of health insurance plans offered by most of the Florida companies. In the indemnity plan, a person gets the opportunity to select his/her choice of physician which will pay his medical expenses either partly or fully whereas; in managed care plans, a customer gets associate with large network of hospitals and physicians, who will take care of all the medical treatment formalities. Besides these two plans, health insurance can be obtainable in group or individual schemes depending upon the requirement. However, each plan has its own advantages and disadvantages and is not suitable for everyone therefore; it is suggested that after obtaining necessary information from various companies, then only health insurance plan will be purchased. Service Providers of health Insurance in FloridaFlorida health insurance can be availed from variety of options. Companies such as Celtic, Aetna and Blue Cross Blue shield are some of the best companies offering lucrative health insurance plans. Utilizing the personal and professional online assistance of local agents will also result in choosing the best Florida health insurance plan for you and your family. These agents provide quotes of various insurance companies and help in selecting the most suitable and affordable health insurance plans as per your requirements. Moreover, you will get the real rates from these agents that are being offered in the market. Buying Florida health insurance plans from the various local agents or renowned companies are surely going to reap long term benefits.

Lease Hold Interest Can Be Insured – Florida Insurance Tips

Businesses large or small who rent space at a very favorable per square foot price may purchase coverage for the cancellation of that favorable lease contract. This is commonly called ?Leasehold Interest Coverage?. Cancellation of the lease must be caused by the direct physical loss or damage to the real property being leased. Example: A business has a 10 year lease on a 5000 per square foot building at $15. 00 per square foot and the property is destroyed after 5 years. The owner decides not to rebuild and terminates the lease. The business must find a new location. The best lease that can be obtained is now $20. per square foot. This is $25,000 per year increase over the previous contract. Since there was 5 years remaining the total increase would equal $125,000. ?Lease hold interest? insurance would pay the business $125,000 less any deductibles. Other coverages include any prepaid rent. Prepaid rent is sometimes paid because of favorable discounts offered by the landlord. Rent bonuses are also covered under this policy. Rent bonuses are paid to landlords to keep other potential renters from grabbing up a favorable lease. Also insured is the ?Use Interest? of improvements, such as fixtures, alterations, walls, counter tops and improved offices which were installed and paid for by the tenant. This type of coverage must be carefully structured by your licensed agent or risk manager to be accurate before added to your business policy. Some business owners policies include this coverage. See your agent for assistance or contact us for help.