Hurricane Insurance Current Rates, News & Information

Hurricane Earl Threatens East Coast: Do You Have Home Insurance?

Posted in Home Insurance , Hurricane Insurance

September 1st, 2010
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Home insurance should be the order of the day for homeowners on the East Coast bracing for Hurricane Earl’s arrival. While the storm has been reduced to Category 3, it is bringing dangerous rip currents and large swells that could severely damage coastal homes in North Carolina, Virginia and more states up the coast.

Earl is On His Way

For homeowners living on Okracoke Island on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, mandatory evacuations have already been ordered. The same goes for all visitors to Hatteras Island. The storm, which lost some of its punch early on Wednesday, is still a major threat with winds near 125 mph. It is expected to hit North Carolina’s coast by Friday morning.

Some other cities that are on course with the storm include Virginia’s Parramore Island and Virginia Beach with other states along the coast like Massachusetts possibly being affected as well.

Are You Insured?

With Hurricane Earl on course to hit within a day or two, it’s important to make sure that you have secured quality home insurance as well as flood insurance to know you’re covered for wind damage, as well as any subsequent flooding that could occur.

In addition to securing the right policies, it’s good to take steps to protect your home from wind damage. Some include:

• Securing your roof: By nailing your sheathing down, you increase your chances of the roof still being there when you return to your home.
• Guarding your windows: To guard your windows, you could fit them and your glass doors with impact-resistant laminated glass, or purchase impact-resistant shutters to reduce damage from debris.
• Securing your doors: You could fit your doors with at least three hinges and install a deadbolt lock with a bolt throw of at least one inch to keep it from flying open.

Protecting your home both physically and financially from hurricanes are important steps in securing your investment and safe haven. As Hurricane Earl draws closer, review your policies, call your insurance agent for questions and take time to secure your home as quickly as possible before evacuating.

Steps to Protect Your Home from Wind Damage

Posted in Home Insurance , Hurricane Insurance

July 22nd, 2010
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As hurricane season gets underway, the threat of wind damaging your home significantly increases if you live near a large body of water. Further, those who live near the Gulf of Mexico or along the Atlantic Coast who are susceptible to the oil-saturated waters from BP’s oil spill have even more to worry about.

The good news is, in addition to the financial protection that you receive from maintaining an adequate home insurance policy – as well as flood insurance – there are a few more steps that you can take to make sure your home is protected from the wind and oil damage. The following is what you could do to decrease your chances of suffering severe damage to your home during hurricane season.

Protecting Your Home from Wind Damage and Flood Waters

There’s no doubt that protecting your home completely from a hurricane is simply not possible. A standard home just can’t withstand the huffing and puffing of one hundred-plus mile per hour winds. However, there are some things you can do to minimize the damage:

• Install anchor bolts: In order to more securely connect the floor construction to your home’s foundation, you could install anchor bolts with heavy-gauge, square bolt washers.
• Secure your roof: Be sure to properly size and nail your sheathing so that it complies with your building codes. Also, you could install an underlayment material to protect against water infiltration.
• Protect your windows: Fit your windows and glass doors with impact-resistant laminated glass or try impact-resistant shutters to reduce damage from flying debris.
• Replace and secure doors: You could consider replacing your current doors with solid wood or hollow metal since they’re good at resisting wind pressure and flying debris. Also, consider fitting doors with at least three hinges, as well as a deadbolt security lock with a bolt throw of at least one inch.
• Brace garage doors: Since garage doors are more vulnerable than many other parts of homes, it’s good to brace them with a retrofit bracing kit or replace your current door with a horizontally-braced, singlewide garage door.
• Secure fuel tanks: Anchor your fuel tanks to the floor (check with your fuel company for guidelines) and make sure your vents and fill line openings are above projected flood levels to avoid in-home spills.

By taking these precautions, you could easily reduce the possibility of your home being damaged by hurricane winds.

What if My Home is Hit with Oil-Saturated Waters?

As you already know, the BP oil spill has affected waters in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. By the middle of June 2010, millions of gallons of oil had spilled into the waters and worked their way along the Gulf and up the east coast.

With hurricane season already underway, the threat of the oily water affecting homes increases by the day. Water saturated with fuel oil can be extremely difficult and costly to clean up, which is why it’s not only good to protect the home, but make sure you’ve purchased the right insurance to take care of the financial burden.

How Does My Insurance Factor In?

Even after protecting your home to your best ability, it’s still possible that it could be damaged by hurricane wind and water. This is why arming yourself with both home insurance and flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is important. It offers you financial coverage that’s difficult to otherwise come up with out of pocket.

If you have home insurance, your structure will be protected from standard wind damage, but will not be covered if your home floods as a result. This is why it’s important to also carry flood insurance. In the case of the oil-saturated waters, it’s even more crucial because FEMA guarantees your insurance will cover any damage as a result of the oil spill.

If you don’t already have flood insurance, now’s the time to get it since most policies have a 30-day wait period before the it takes effect. Not to mention that the NFIP itself has recently only lasted for one or two months at a time before expiring.

Doing everything you can to protect your home is important year-round, but especially during hurricane season. Take the steps necessary to secure your home and your financial well-being.

Today’s News: Gov’t Blocks Health Insurer Mergers, Home Insurance Necessary for Hurricane Season and Life Insurance Assessment Tool Available

Posted in Health Care , Health Insurance , Home Insurance , Hurricane Insurance , Met Life

July 19th, 2010
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President Barack Obama is warning health insurance companies that he won’t hesitate to block any company mergers that will stifle competition, while also warning homeowners to protect their homes against a rapidly-approaching hurricane season. Also, MetLife is offering a new tool to help individuals choose life insurance options more effectively.

Government Blocks Health Insurer Attempts at Mergers

Christine Varney, antitrust chief of the Justice Department, told a lawyers’ conference that the Obama administration plans to vigorously enforce anti-monopoly laws so that the newly-passed health care reform bill will see ultimate success. She noted that the point of the bill was to control premiums for policyholders and this can’t be accomplished without competition between numerous health insurance companies to drive down the prices. The department plans to actively investigate big insurers to stop monopolies before they start. (Associated Press)

Check Your Home Insurance Policy During National Hurricane Preparedness Week

President Barack Obama had announced that May 23 – 29, 2010 was National Hurricane Preparedness Week, during which time homeowners were to make sure their homes were prepared for hurricane season starting on June 1.

As summer continues, it’s good to make sure your home insurance policy fully covers your home if you live in an area prone to hurricanes. Also, it’s good to make reinforcements to your home that could better protect it and potentially lower your home insurance rates as a result.

MetLife Offers New Life Insurance Assessment Tool

Insurer MetLife announced recently that it would be offering a new life insurance needs assessment tool along with tips to help insurance seekers better understand how to get started with a new policy. The company will offer an online Life Insurance Needs Calculator that offers guidance in determining how much life insurance consumers need as well as how much they should expect to pay from MetLife. Also, tips will be made available to help simplify the application process. (Market Watch)

The Truth Behind Hurricane Insurance

Posted in Home Insurance , Hurricane Insurance

November 26th, 2009
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Naturally occurring weather systems can really harm your area, especially hurricanes. Consider the long term financial damage Hurricane Katrina has inflicted onto the southern regions of Louisiana and Mississippi. This natural disaster caused damage exceeding the $200 billion mark.

Several industry insiders believe that the insurance industry’s handling of the catastrophe was less then stellar. Instead of coming to the aid of their policyholders and providing immediately financial relief for emergency shelter, food and clothing, some insurance providers actually found a way to avoid providing compensation despite the “loss of use” clauses previously contracted for.

Policyholders Denied Coverage

One loophole to deny coverage was based on policyholders not having specific clauses for “flood damage” in their contracts. Less then half of those affected by Katrina with active insurance coverage had specific language ensuring that they would be be provided relief in case of flood damage. Those who did not were subjected to the lame duck response from FEMA during the crisis and relied on the government for assistance.

The valuable lessons learned from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are abundant. From a consumer’s perspective, the truth regarding hurricane insurance has been exposed. Those seeking policies now know exactly what type of language their policies need in order to establish protection in case a violent storms rips. Aside from your basic home owners policy, insurance riders dedicated to damage relief specific to the event are required.

Good Home Insurance Riders

You should have the following insurance riders to truly protect your home:

• Flood Protection – A majority of hurricane damage does not occur from the high winds but from the immense amounts of water that flood the area. Only by having a contract specifically covering this type of water damage can you get the money needed to repair the damage to your home.
• Mold Coverage – The aftermath of major flooding in subtropic climates is mold. Some molds can prove to be toxic while others may cause mold allergies. Either way, you need to ask how your insurance policy will compensate you for this possibility.
• Affordable Deductibles – Even with hurricane insurance, you will be responsible for some of the expenses associated with your loss. The percentage you will be required to pay is determined on your insurance policy, but based on claim size, the final amount could be in the thousands.
• Extended Replacement Cost Clauses – Supply and demand after a storm can make the cost of reconstruction skyrocket. This clause will help cover the additional costs of both labor and materials, up to 20% above the limit in some states.
• Emergency Relief – Hurricane insurance tends to cover the damage to your property caused by winds. Flood insurance will help you out with qualified water damage. Unless otherwise specified, your policy may not provide money for emergency housing and it will be up to you to have the emergency savings in place to help you through.

If you reside in a hurricane prone state such as Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi or Texas, a review of your existing policy is a must. The laws regarding hurricane coverage vary from state by state and although there is a chance that your current policy has some hurricane protection, automatically assuming you are well protected is not recommended.

Lobbyists Propose 10 Percent Property Insurance Rate Hike

Posted in Home Insurance , Hurricane Insurance

October 22nd, 2009
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In Florida, the battle for funding for state-provided property insurance has resulted in lobbyists pushing for a 10 percent across-the-board rate increase. The increase requests comes from insistence that Florida insurance regulators are failing in their duties to ensure the proper funds sit in an insurance fund in the event that a major wind storm does more damage to the already vulnerable area.

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is a state-backed insurance provider, it was created through a 2002 legislation to help Florida homeowners obtain affordable coverage that were not covered by private insurers. However, the insurance provider, which also maintains the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, has had a difficult time maintaining a reasonable stash of money to pay claims in the event of a new storm because so many have already hit the area. Currently, Citizens has a surplus of $4 billion, which according to lobbyists, is not enough.

There have been a series of debates on ways to finance Citizens, but none have been immensely successful. Now, Barney Bishop III, president of Associated Industries of Florida, is asking lawmakers to impose a 10 percent increase across the board to help finance the fund. He says doing so will add an estimated $211.5 million and help ease the deficit the provider would see if a Category 2 hurricane was to hit the area.

However, members of the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) argue that an increase this large would make paying difficult for homeowners, especially when they’re already paying a 1 percent assessment to help fund the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. Instead, the organization hopes to strike a balance that will both finance the fund and offer reasonable rates to homeowners.

A consensus between the two groups has yet to be obtained.

Customer Satisfaction with Home Insurance Rises

Posted in Home Insurance , Hurricane Insurance

October 7th, 2009
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For the first time in5 years, customer satisfaction with home insurance increases dramatically. This is according to a recentsurvey from J.D. Powers and Associates.

In the survey, the research firm found that the driving force behind customer satisfaction seemed to be price. This may be a surprise to homeowners living in the Gulf Coast who have suffered astronomical premium hikes after Hurricane Katrina. According to the research firm, however, the Gulf Coast is an exception. Most prices have been reasonable over the past year.

J.D. Powers noted that thesatisfaction associated with home insurance pricesmay have beenperceptual. In other words, since prices didn’t actually fall, yet other costs such as gas and food increased over the past year, homeowners could find their insurance coststo besomething to feel happy about – it was one of the only stable expenses in their budget.

Another area that the research firm found customers to be satisfied in was claims handling. While the survey’sclaims-handling rating was higher a few years ago than in 2009, it has increased some showing that customers are gaining faith again in an insurance agency’s ability to handle claims – as opposed to a few years ago after Hurricane Katrina.

Of course, the study doesn’t take into consideration the recent floods that have taken place in Georgia. And while flood insurance is separate from homeowners insurance in theory, many homeowners associate the two and may find displeasure in the long run with their overall experience.

How satisfied are you with your own homeowners insurance?

Insurance Break for Post-Hurricane Katrina Home Renovations

Posted in Home Insurance , Hurricane Insurance

October 2nd, 2009
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If you own a home in Louisiana, you can take advantage of insurance and tax breaks bytaking on home renovations that comply with statewide building standardsenacted after Hurricane Katrina. Luckily, these renovations can not only help you save money in the long-run, but also protect your home from future wind and water damage.

According to Louisiana’s state insurance commissioner, state lawmakers passed three incentives in 2007 to have more homes meet new building-code standards through “retrofitting” – or making modifications. These modifications include:

• Roof bracing
• Shuttering
• Building design
• Wall-to-floor foundation strength improvements
• Stronger windows, doors and skylights

The codes already apply to homes built after 2006, but for older homes, makingadjustments will make them safer and help them to qualify for these three insurance and tax incentives:

• Sales Tax Exclusion – When buying storm shutters that provide protection in storms and hurricanes,you will receive a sales tax exclusion.
• Discounts on Insurance Costs – If you renovate your entire home to meet new building standards, you will receive a discount on your insurance. All insurance companies- including state-run Citizens PropertyInsuranceCorp. – are offering discounts.
• Tax Deduction – After renovations are made (and appropriately inspected by an official registered with the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code Council), you will receive a tax deduction equal to one half of the cost to rehabilitate the home. Renovations must be madeon or after Jan. 1, 2007. You cannot include federal or state incentives or grants received- only out-of-pocket expenses. The maximum for this deduction is $5,000 and should be claimed the year the work was completed (if the work was completed in 2008, you can amend your 2008 state tax return).

Paying to renovate your home may be a costly venture, but with tax and insurance breaks – as well as a safer home – the trade-off could very well be worth it.

The Real Way to Lower Florida Hurricane Insurance Premiums

Posted in Home Insurance , Hurricane Insurance , Save on Home Insurance

September 24th, 2009
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In the midst of our recession, Florida residents are looking for as many ways as possible to lower their hurricane insurance premiums. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they’re going to getthe help they hoped to receive from the state’s insurance provider.

Citizens Out

Citizens Property Insurance – the cheapest provider in the area – has been in financial trouble for some time, making it difficult to dish out the cash needed to help rebuild properties that have been destroyed by previous storms. And even thoughthe statehas received help from the government in the form of a $5 million FEMA grant to help rebuild and prepare the area for future hurricanes which can help lower premiums,not everyone is going to benefit from it.

Funds are Dry

Why, you ask? Well, for one, not everyone is going to have access to the funds – there’s simply not enough money. And two, those who do qualify have to get their hurricane straps, stronger roofs, and window protection before another hurricane hits. If they’re not able to, then the grant will not have helped them at all.

Of course, if the appropriate adjustments to property can be made in time then residents can benefit from lower hurricane insurance premiums. In the meantime, Florida has been trying to create a number of legislative efforts to help hold down policy rates. But it seems that the real way to lower northwestFlorida’s hurricane insurance premiums – for the time being, at least – is going to be the luck of not having a hurricane hit the area at all.

Federal Flood Insurance Standards Proven Unsatisfactory

Posted in Home Insurance , Hurricane Insurance

September 21st, 2009
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Most of the homes that were swept away by Hurricane Ike in Texas met the standards set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), while 10 that went above and beyond those standards were among the 11 that were still standard along the Bolivar Peninsula. Coincidence or not? According to a recent report from the Institute of Business and Home Safety, FEMA is not using adequate standards to gauge the level of storms that come through the area. As a result, homes that meet FEMA’s standards can easily be swept away.

So what are FEMA’s standards? It requires that new homes near the beach on Bolivar be 19 feet above sea level to qualify for federal flood insurance. According to the report, of the 270 homes that were swept away in the hurricane, the majority met those standards – only a few that were older did not.

On the other hand, the 10 remaining homes that went above and beyond FEMA’s standards were “fortified” (disaster resistant) and elevated several feet above current elevation standards. According to the report, having the home “fortified” and adding just a few feet of elevation can make all of the difference in whether the home will still be standing after a storm.

FEMA is said to be replacing its outdated paper maps with more accurate depictions of the area’s floodplains. However, the author of the report asks homeowners to take their own precautionary measures to protect their homes.

If you live in an area of high flood risk, fortifying your home includes the following:

• Non-combustible roof materials
• Windows and patio doors made of impact-resistant glass or protected by shutters
• Connections that tie the house together securely from roof to foundation
• Reinforced, impact-resistant entryways and garage doors

Having your home both fortified and elevated are the best ways to avoid severe damage or a complete wash out. In many cases, following the guidelines provided by federal or even private insurance companies just isn’t enough when it comes to protecting your home.

Some Coastal State Homeowners Unhappy with New Hurricane Insurance Law

Posted in Home Insurance , Hurricane Insurance

September 15th, 2009
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Inland homeowners along the coastal states, namely North Carolina, are unhappy witha hurricane insurance law that seems to favor wealthier coastal-area homeowners. Under the new law that took effect in the state last month, inland homeowners will be held responsible for coverage ofcoastal homes if the state’swind coverage plan, known as the Beach Plan,empties out with a big storm.

Many of the houses located on the coasts of North Carolina are valued at $750,000 and up, which wouldn’t be a problem if they didn’t need to be insured. However, there is a current cap on the amount of coveragethe Beach Plan is required to shell out, which means that if a storm hits, the money has to come from somewhere.

You may be wondering, why not eliminate or stop building these expensive properties? Apparently, big beach houses and rental properties are vital to North Carolina’s tourism trade. These big houses generate revenue for owners, property managers, landscapers, handymen, cleaners, etc. With so much money to be made, losing the properties would apparently be a huge liability.

So now back to who’s going to cover these homes. Because there is a cap on the Beach Plan, insurersmay have to ponyup $1 billion industry wide to cover the$750,000 that these coastal homeowners will require. But what’s worse isthat while coastalhomeowners will see an increase in premiums, so willinland homeowners who will face as much as 10% in surcharges on their own property-coverage bills to subsidize the costs.

It doesn’t look like an easy road ahead for insurers and inland homeowners in coastal states. At this point, it seems their only reprieve will be for the area to avoid storms altogether.