The Home Insurance Guru

In a great article by Julie Patel of the Fort lauderdale Sun Sentinal, she reviews  some good information to have when making a choice on your Home Insurance policy in Fort Lauderdale and all of Florida. Price is not always the main choice because of the Florida cat fund surcharge I have spoken of so often maxing out at 45%. The State will most likely allow the non protected companies called Surplus lines carriers to depopulate Citizens and at whose risk? Customer service is  a big issue. Citizens does not want you to be there so they don’t always care  as much as a regular admitted carrier competing for business. The competing carriers  will try to make things wright as long as they can stay in business at a profit. Citizens rates will be increasing about 10% in 2012  and the new replacement cost estimators will be raising coverages as well to increase premiums for the State run company. For claims, many have good records and many have no record because of their  short history of being in business. But if the company goes under and they are admitted to the State of Florida then still, why go to Citizens. There are many other reasons like just supporting local business because we don’t want the State of Florida  in our business. Please the full story below; Please call L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto, Flood, Business and commercial  & LIfe Insurance policies as well.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-insurance-options-20111030,0,1513216.story

All that really has to be done is to raise Citizens Prices so high that everyone will want to leave, but our Legislators in Tall.  will not have that as it is not going to get them elected  or re-elected. Instead, since not many carriers want to depopulate Citizens anymore, the Legislators  are now considering the Surplus lines carriers. These carriers as much as they are strong companies, are not backed by the State FIGA fund so in the event of a major storm, the policy holders will have no recourse unless they choose to sue Citizens or the State of Florida because they do not understand the repurcussions. This will affect the people of Fort Laud. and all of Florida  as 60% of the Citizens policy holders come from S. Florida. I will keep you all informed when updates are avialable, but remember to call L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto, Flood, Business and Commercial and Life Insurance as well. Please enjoy the  full article below by Julie Patel of the Sun Sentinal in Fort Lauderdale;

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/10/bills_to_let_unregulated_insur.html

3.2 billion is just the initial Shortfall, how about if a hurricane hits. If you have seen my prior posts about this topic, I have talked about The Citizens Surcharge and this is where and why it may come still very soon. Many Legislators in Tall. including Governor Rick Scott, want to reduce this risk. If the risk is not reduced somehow, the rates will have to increase significantly more than it has and the people of Florida are struggling to afford what is happening already. Consumers in Fort Laud and all over Florida will feel this rate hike terribly if another solution is not found soon. Please read the full article as we wind down hurricane season w/ a  cool blast from the North this weekend. Please remember to call L & S INsurance for all of your needs in Fort lauderdale and all over Florida for Home, auto, Flood, business and Commercial coverage and life Insurance as well;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/10/20/220845.htm

Please read about what the state of Florida is doing to be proactive about PIP fraud. This will cost all of us more money for Car Insurance so watch out as many have been arrested already.Please read the article put out by our new CFO Jeff Atwater and see how this affects Fort Lauderdale and all of Florida as well. Call L & S for auto quotes and ask for Bruce or his asst.

http://www.myfloridacfo.com/fraud/Newsletters/PIPSource/PIPSourceOct11.pdf

In a good article by Julie Patel  of the Sun Sentinal she explains the 2  sides of the story. State Farm sold the state Legislators a bill of goods that this would help the 125K people they dropped 2 years ago froma  double whammy with a rate hike as well on the auto. By allowing the 5% auto discount when a client chooses Citizens they only get the home Increase. Well, this has been very good for State Farm agents who push the clients into Citizens which has now hit 1.5 million policy holder’s and the State Farm agents for both policies. All other agents like us here at L & S Insurance can’t offer this so we are at a distinct disadvantage. This is not good for Citizens or the state as the company is still growing by 1000 policies/ day now and this is against what the State of Florida wants. The Citizens board will now review this law and see if it can be overturned. Now perhaps more people will shop for Home Insurance rates and Car Insurance as well. This is good for the consumer’s to go shoppping and find a better company to be with. This will really be an interesting event for Fort lauderdale State Farm clients as the rates are going up anyway and when this hits the State Farm agents will have to deal with this issue like all of the Independent agents have to deal with as well. Please read the full article below and please call L & S for all of your Home, Auto, Flood, Businesss and commercial policies as well as life Insurance too.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-state-farm-20111019,0,6603066.story

Public adjustors claim to get you more money, but many of them use Fraudulent practices(Sinkhole Claims have been the worst) to get that money and take 20% or more from your claim check. To control Fraud the State  wants to keep Public Adjustors out of the picture until a claim has been  made so  the Insurance company  reviews the problem first. Public adjustors try to come out first and this can cost the consumer a lot of money if the claim would have been  paid properly and the adjustor was never needed. This has caused a lot of issues and a Law suit as well by the Public adjustors.  This is a  5th amendment issue possibly so the case will be heard. The Legislators and court system will be dealing w/ this issue over the next few months so please watch for more info. This will affect people in Fort lauderdale, S. Florida and all over Florida as well. Please read the full article by Julie Patel of the Sun Sentinal and please remember to call L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto,Flood, Business & Commercial and even Life and health Insurance quotes as well.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/10/should_public_insurance_adjust.html

Come find out how FEMA is going to rezone the Flood maps and see if your  flood rates will go up, down or or sideways! There are meetings scheduled all  around Broward county in Mid November! Please call L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto, Flood, Business  & Comercial and Life & Health as well. Please learn about Flood changes that are coming to Fort lauderdale, S. Florida and all of Florida

http://www.broward.org/REGULATION/ENGINEERING/FLOODZONEMAPS/Pages/Default.aspx

The House finally did what was needed last week which was the extension of the FEMA and NFIP Flood programs till 11/18/2011. I am doubtful they will agree and will most likely have to vote to extend this again, but maybe, just maybe we will get lucky and the Legislators in Washington D.C.  will do the correct thing and fix the problem w/ a 5 year plan. Please call L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto, Flood, Business & Commercial quotes and Life & Health Insurance as well.  We cover Fort Lauderdale, S. Florida and all of Florida and please enjoy the article below;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2011/10/04/218593.htm