Insurance Companies = Thieves
So, as I’ve mentioned in the past, Florida residents are getting royally ripped off by the property insurance companies.
Here’s a synopsis:
First the insurance companies decide that we are too likely to be hit by hurricanes and so they jack up the premiums. When the homeowners complain to the insurance companies, they don’t listen.
So then the homeowners complain to the state government since insurance is regulated by the state. Many insurance companies decide that they will not insure anything which is not owner occupied. No problem, we have Citizens Property Insurance which is the state owned “insurer of last resort.” yay.
Sound ominous? It is. Citizens premiums have generally, in my experience been three times the amount of a regular insurance company. Ok, fine we have no choice so we’ll deal.
Now, for the last three or so, years property values have been rising at a good clip. You guessed it, raise the premiums again. Most recently, property owners have been literally screaming at the local county commissions because they can’t afford to live in their houses anymore because of the cost of insurance and property tax.
The counties have been re-accessing the property values, and therefore, tax rates because market prices are slowly dropping. You would think that the state insurance company would do the same, right?
WRONG! In order to accomplish this I have had to call a builder to get the replacement cost per square foot for the properties, pay an appraiser about $300 per property, and write a letter saying that in fact, yes, I would like to insure my property for what it would cost to replace it and no more.
All this so that when you do need to make a claim, they will take as long as possible to pay and pay as little as possible of your claim. Niiiiice!
This I recently heard on the news from a former industry insider who said that the basic (unwritten) policy of all insurance companies is to pay as little as possible and take as long as possible to pay it.
But of course, your premium must be received on time…or else.
