The Home Insurance Guru

After reading this, you would never want to be with Citizens Insurance in Fort lauderdale or anywhere in Florida as they treat customer’s terribly and have no reason to resolve cases in the best interest of anyone but Citizens. They have no one to prove anything to as they don’t want your business and if you went elsewhere they are ok w/ that. Only price brings people to Citizens and then they have to deal w/ things like this, but they never listen when we advise clients that  things like this are real and this is not what they will want to deal with when claims occur. Tampa Bay on line wrote this great article about Citizens and how you cannot even sue Citizens if you are unhappy w/ claims and Public adjustors no longer have an interest in dealing w/ them as the rates they can collect are maxed out at 10% now. Wouldn’t you want to be w/ a carrier that cares and is trying to keep your business in this terrible environment we have here in Fort  Lauderdale, S. Florida and all of Florida. Governor Rick Scott is telling everyone to get out of Citizens and this is just another reason why the idea is a good one if you can. Please read the entire article  by Doug Smith the Fox reporter w/ the story. Please call L & S Insurance for all of your home, Auto, Business and Commercial, Flood and even Life Insurance as well.

http://ht.ly/7u9fN

Just when you thought it was safe to renew w/ Citizens Insurance next year because the prices were so competitive, guess again!!!!!  The Governor(Rick Scott) has pledged to run Citizens out of business and he is the best friend the Insurance companies have had for many years. This will not happen any time soon, but he wants to make it clear that if you choose Citizens, your coverage’s will be the worst in the industry and the prices wil soon be the highest. In an article by Julie Patel of the Sun Sentinal of Fort Lauderdale  you will see all of the changes to come, not including ones that were already approved.These approvals do not require the Legislative approval and they will begin 1/1/2012. Please call L & S Insurance for all of your  Home, Auto, Flood, Business & Commercial, Flood and even Life Insurance quotes. Please enjoy the article below as how Citizens will affect everyone in Fort Lauderdale and all over Florida.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/11/citizens_board_oks_ways_to_shr.html

Will it shrink or will it grow now!!!!!  Not a bad song, but Governor Rick Scott wants it to shrink and bigtime. The Citizens committee will be discussing ways to make this happen and the deadline is for 11/30/2011 so the Board of Ctizens can move on the recomendations of the committee. The Gvernor wants the plan in full motion before hurricane season starts in June 2012. The options are raise rates much more, reduce coverage’s, but do not reduce the price,raise all of the coverage’s on the building to increase premiums, continue to do new Mitigation inspections to remove doscounts from policy holder’s and of course the Florida surcharge which could be up to 45% of the preium they are paying.All of these are likely to happen in many parts of florida especially Fort lauderdale and S. Florida.  For all of you in Citizens, try to go now while you can as if that surcharge hit’s then it will follow you to a new carrier and that will be complicated at best. Please read the story by Julie Patel of the Fort Luderdale Sun Sentinal and please call L & S Insurance to try and get you out of Citizens now, why wait. We do all  types of Insurance including, Home, Auto, boat, flood, Business and Commercial and even life Insurance coverage.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/11/citizens_insurance_to_discuss.html

The OIR in Tallahassee was trying to shut down Homewise Insurance company because of  the financial status of the company and thank god Homeowner’s Choice(HCI) came to save the day for the clients of Homewise and the agents that represent them like L & S.Our 250 clients with this carrier will now be relatively safe from the issues that come when a company normally shut down. Of course some people will still get non renewed and the rates will be adjusted at renewal time, but anything is better than searching for insurance in a rush and trying to get new inspections or whatever else is needed.Most would have ended up in Citizens which is not good for most and it is not what our governor wants either.  HCI is a fine company and this will double their size and financial stability without growing the expense side. This will be a win win scenario for Fort.  Lauderdale and all over S. Florida. Please read the full story below and remember to call L & S Insurance for all of your home, Auito, Flood, business & Commercial and even Life insurance quotes.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/11/08/223433.htm

The Citizens Insurance Board of Governor’s in Tallahassee Florida  is trying hard to tell you good bye. Since the rate hikes can’t be increased fast enough many coverage’s will now be excluded from the policies and the coverage will either not be available or you will add it to the premium. No premium reductions will come from this ojn the base policy  only increases in premiums if you want to stay w/ Citizens and buy back the coverage’s lost,or you can try again to reshop for e new policy w/ another carrier if it is available. L & S Insurance is pleased to tell you that since we represent 14 Home Insurance carriers of which 9 are now writing business w/ our agency, but not necessarily  all agencies,so  we may be able to help you when your agent can’t.Our Clients in Fort lauderdale and all over Florida will be able to shop and get the best rates available to try and compete now w/ Citizens and the new attitude of “Get that coverge elsewhere.”  Please read the Article by Julie Patel of the Fort Laderdale Sun Sentinal  and see all the changes and   new possible costs on top of the rate hike for 2012.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-citizens-drops-coverage-20111103,0,5188965.story

There are several things that can be done and many of them will have to be used. The list of items up for discussion are rates,Eliminate coverages to make the policy less attractive, increase perks to take out carriers and of course having Surplus lines carriers get involved with the depopulation process. This will be a good thing in time, but while this is waiting for a solution, people in Fort Lauderdale and all over Florida will be  put in Citizens when it should not be necessary. Too  many agents sell Citizens as a main carrier and no other’s so the clients are never  made aware of private carriers and this was never supposed to be this way. Please read and follow the full story below by Julie Patel of the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinal. Please call L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto, Business and Commercial, Flood and even Life Insurance quotes.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/11/scott_requires_citizens_insura.html

Homeowner’s in Citizens Insurance  will soon be sold off to Unregulated carriers and taken from Citizens Insurance which now has over 1.5 million policies and growing. It is clear that the Legislators in Tall.  do not want Citizens to continue to grow and they will do whatever it takes except the propor rate hikes to make this happen. Since these carriers will not be backed and guaranteed by the State of Florida FIGA fund, everyone could be at risk in a  major Hurricane  if the insurer now has to fold.The financial requirenments are harder to qualify for than in Florida oterwise, but will it be enough. This did happen at Hurricane Andrew and part of the FIGA fund being set up, was so that this never happened again. I guess our friends in Tall. change their minds as necessary to make things   happen when they need them to. Please read the full article and how this affects Fort Lauderdale and all of Florida  as this bill continues through the Florida Legislative process. Please read the full article by Julie Patel of the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinal. Also, please remember to call L & S for quotes for Home, Auto, Flood, Business & Commercial and even Life Insurance quotes;

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/11/bill_allowing_less_regulated_i.html

PIP Fraud is definitlely on the front Burner in Tallahasse as Legislators get the whole story from The Consumer Advocate  Robin Wescott. The Insurance companies will have to fork over the info they have, but it is estimated that the Insurance companies have lost at least 1/2 a billion dollars in the last 2 years and that number is likely to get bigger.What we have here is a system that needs to be revamped, but in the meantime while redistricting goes on, rates will have to increase in Fort lauderdale and  all over Florida. Please read the story by Julie Patel of the Fort lauderdale Sun Sentinal in her continuing story about Pip Fraud going wild in Florida. Please call L & S Insurance for al of your Home, Auto,Flood, Business & Commercial and even Life Insurance quotes as well.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/11/pip_florida_leaders_demand_ins.html

Robin Wescott the Florida Consumer Advocate is releasing a report on this topic today and I have enclosed the article w/ all of the results of her study. Julie Patel of the Florida Sun Sentinal puts it all on the table for everyone to see. Fort Lauderdale and all of Florida have seen the following, Fraudulent claims, High lawyer fees, unrealistic medical bills and the Insurance compnaies are not going to be able to keep rates down any more unless new legislation is passed. Even if the lawmakers in Tallahassee do pass a bill, it will not happen for quite some time so the rates on Car Insurance will be heading up so now you know who to blame. Many claims are not only valid, but are not enough, but way to many have fraud involved which costs everyone even though we are not in the claim. Please enjoy the complete article and call L & S Insurance for all of your Insurance quotes including, Home, Auto, Business  & Commercial, Flood, and even Life Insurance.

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