As you may have noticed, several new insurance companies have been entering the market recently. Some Florida insurance companies are so new that they do not even have a sign on their office. Yet, the compensation for the CEO’s of these new insurance companies has grown more than 50 percent in one year, past $7 million, disclosures in April show. Another company did not even exist 3 years ago but is now the fastest growing property insurer in the United States. The market has completely reinvented itself thanks to Florida having the nation’s highest premiums and record departures from Citizens, the state-run insurer. Up to 45,000 customers of Citizens are getting offers from other insurance companies such as Mount Beacon Insurance Co. and Heritage Property & Causality Insurance Co. in June alone. Citizens’ customer base has now dropped to fewer than 600,000 customers, the lowest since its creation in 2002, from a high of nearly 1.5 million customers. This drop in customers has resulted from the lower rates of competing insurers such as Heritage.
It is important to read over your insurance policy and have annual conversations with insurance professionals in order to make sure that your policy will provide adequate coverage. You want to make sure that you have enough coverage to rebuild your home if it is completely destroyed. This is especially important if any major improvements have been done to your home such as minor upgrades or even a full- scale remodel; your insurance company needs to know about it. At times, an additional premium is required in order to have the ability to get back the post-remodeled version of your home. Taking inventory of all your possessions will also streamline the claim process in the event of any disaster. Insurance companies recommend that everything be included in these inventories such as furniture, electronics, personal property and any other valuables in your home.
Being safer rather than sorry holds true when it comes to your homeowner’s insurance policy. The annual premium price difference between a standard policy and a specialized policy may only be in the hundreds of dollars, says the president of Encompass Insurance, Tom Ealy. But the real question is how worth it are these specialized policies? Are they worth the extra hundreds of dollars?
Hollywood Police just released surveillance footage of three teens vandalizing Chaminade Madonna College Preparatory School. The teens broke into the school during summer break and cameras caught the teens ripping down posters from the walls, pulling out the fire hose into the hall way, and carrying out a large bag of stolen items. Off camera, the teens allegedly flipped over tables and benches on the schools property. The school’s dean was able to identify one of the vandals- Salas, a former student who was expelled in the recent years. Thereafter, officials were able to apprehend the three teens; two were juveniles and the third alleged vandal was 18 years old. Salas, the 18-year-old was arrested back on June 15th and was later released on a $1,500 bond. All three of the teens are awaiting their court hearings.
More than three years after Hurricane Wilma hammered South Florida in October 2005, an appeals court has ordered a new trial to dispute Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s decision to deny a water-damage claim filed from the storm.