The Home Insurance Guru

Please call Lee from Acentria Insurance at 954-270-7966 for free quotes on Home Insurance, Auto, Flood, Private Flood, Car, Business & Commercial & Life , Health and all group benefits.

Insurance industry losses from Hurricane Florence, which hit the Carolinas mid-September as a Category 1 storm, will be manageable and not have a severe impact on insurers, according to experts.

As the storm turned out to be less of a wind event and with flood excluded on most homeowners policies, it is expected insurers will not experience the significant losses that were initially feared. However uninsured flood losses could cost nearly $20 billion, by some estimates.

“All indications we have seen is [Florence] was more of a flood event than wind issue,” said Brian O’Neill, exectuive vice president for JLT Re’s National Catastrophe Practice.

According to Fitch Ratings, wind speeds from Florence diminished as the storm approached the U.S. coast and Florence was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane before making landfall in North Carolina on Sept. 14. Fitch said the level of wind related damage to property is expected to be modest as a result of the significant decline in wind speeds, limiting losses to primary property insurance writers.

Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimated that industry insured losses from Florence’s winds and storm surge will range from $1.7 billion to $4.6 billion. Losses include downed trees that caused damages to homes and automobiles, downed utility poles, and shingle loss with isolated cases of more extensive roof damage.

Karen Clark & Co. said it expects insured losses from Hurricane Florence will reach $2.5 billion. That estimate includes insured losses to residential, commercial and industrial properties.

Please enjoy the full article below;

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2018/09/25/502196.htm

Please call Lee from Acentria Insurance at 954-270-7966 for free quotes on Home Insurance, Auto, Flood, Private Flood, Car, Business & Commercial & Life, Health Group and all financial products

In a significant turn of events in the insurance industry’s fight against Florida assignment of benefits (AOB) abuse, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal (DCA) has ruled that an insurer’s anti-assignment provision was not prohibited.

But the battle isn’t over yet as it is likely this decision will be brought to the Florida Supreme Court.

The Fourth DCA ruling came on Sept. 5, 2018 in the case of Restoration of Port St. Lucie, a/a/o, John and Liza Squitieri v. Ark Royal Insurance Co., in which the court disagreed with a decision by the Fifth DCA in Dec. 2017 prohibiting any such conditions.

The Fourth DCA found that a homeowner’s insurance policy may contain a restriction requiring the consent of all of the insured and the mortgagees before a valid assignment of benefits. The ruling could allow insurers to seek to use these restrictions to stem the rise of fake or exaggerated claims and allow parties with valid, vested interests in a property to have a say in the assignment. The ruling could be a turning point in stemming abuse of AOBs that is leading to increased homeowner insurance rates statewide.

Please enjoy the full article below;

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2018/09/20/501785.htm

Please call Lee from Acentria Insurance at 954-270-7966 for free quotes on Home Insurance, Auto, Flood, Private Flood, Car, Business & Commercial & Life, Health Group and all financial products.

Flood insurance was far from Stephanie Walker’s mind in 2015 when she moved her family into a home in Fayetteville in central North Carolina, nearly 200 miles (320 km) from the coast.

The next year, a creek at the end of her street swelled during Hurricane Matthew, sending several feet of water into her living room. Without flood insurance, the family spent $70,000 on repairs. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency covered $25,000 but the family had to borrow the rest for her home.

The houses on the street were built in 2005. Matthew was the first storm that caused flooding, but the fear of another flood is causing greater anxiety.

“This street should be demolished. Houses never should have been put here,” said Walker, 41.

After Matthew, the family bought flood insurance and felt protected when the waters touched their doorstep again during Hurricane Florence.

But they are a rarity. Only about 1 percent of homes in North Carolina’s inland counties are insured through the national floodinsurance program, according to federal data, compared with 25 percent to 50 percent of homeowners on the coast.

FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program supplements regular homeowner policies, which do not generally include flood damage. For homeowners who do not buy the flood insurance, federal aid generally only partially covers repairs.

The average national flood insurance policy, which tops out at $250,000, costs about $700 per year, but varies depending on the elevation of the home, according to FEMA. Homeowners can buy supplemental insurance policies for more valuable homes through private insurers.

Please enjoy the full article below;

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2018/09/19/501688.htm

Please call Lee from Acentria Insurance at 954-270-7966 for free quotes on Home Insurance, Auto, Flood, Private Flood, Car, Business & Commercial & Life, Health Group and all financial products.

The number of Americans with flood insurance is on the rise, yet Hurricane Florence is likely to make it painfully clear that too many homeowners in the Carolinas and other vulnerable regions remain unprotected. .

An analysis of federal flood insurance records by The Associated Press found there were roughly 5.1 million active flood insurance policies in the U.S. as of July 31, up from 4.94 million a year earlier.

The Carolinas had modest gains – a 2.5 percent increase in South Carolina and a 3.5 percent increase in North Carolina.

But large gaps in coverage remain. South Carolina is the second-highest insured state for flooding, with roughly 65 percent of properties in flood hazard areas insured. But in North Carolina, where forecasters say the storm might bring the most destructive round of flooding in state history, flood coverage is less common, with only 35 percent of at-risk properties insured.

After blowing ashore as a hurricane with 90 mph winds, Florence virtually parked itself much of the weekend atop the Carolinas as it pulled warm water from the ocean and hurled it onshore. Storm surges, flash floods and winds scattered destruction widely.

Most of the gains observed in the federal flood insurance data over the past 12 months occurred in Texas, with about 145,000 new policies. Insurance experts say that Hurricane Harvey, which brought tremendous flood damage to Texas and Louisiana late last summer, helped increase public awareness that homeowners need flood insurance.

Please enjoy the full article below;

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2018/09/17/501489.htm

Please call Lee from Acentria Insurance at 954-270-7966 for fee quotes on Home Insurance, Car, Flood, Private Flood, Auto, Business & Commercial & Life, Health & group benefits of all types.

Evacuations, already affecting more than 1 million people in and around North Carolina, start the clock ticking on business-interruption insurance policies, which help replace lost income for companies when natural disasters strike. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and FM Global are among insurers with exposure in the region that are sending staff to help with anticipated claims.

“You’d have to expect, just based on the forecast, that it’s going to be a significant impact to businesses,” including prolonged disruptions, said Rick Miller, head of the U.S. property practice at Aon Plc. “Certainly businesses that take a direct hit, their facilities could be impacted for months.”

Making matters worse for insurers, forecasters say that Florence may stall over land, potentially dumping rain for days and causing power failures. The storm, expected to make landfall late Thursday or early Friday, may trigger “catastrophic flash flooding,” the National Weather Service said. Companies from agricultural firm Cargill Inc. to carmaker Daimler AG suspended operations in Florence’s path.

Florence could become the most powerful storm to hit the area in more than 60 years if its intensity continues. One estimate pegged the potential total costs of the storm at $30 billion.

Please enjoy the full article below

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2018/09/12/500783.htm