Another Round of Florida Homeowners Insurance Coming This Year

At a time when you can least afford it, watch out for more unwelcome news - the cancellation of your Florida home insurance policy.

The largest private home insurance company in Florida is going ahead with an approved program to cancel 125,000 home, condo, and mobile home policies.  While this is good news compared to the estimated 700,000 policies it was originally planning on non-renewing, this is still a significant number of Florida homeowners who are going to be scrambling to find new coverage.

Another large national company announced plans late last year to cancel another 60,000 policies as it continues to cut back its exposure in Florida.  Perhaps these cancellations will be more easily absorbed because the company arranged for a regional Florida home insurance company to pick up those policies.  However there is no guarantee that all of the policyholders who are cancelled will be able to find new coverage.  Homeowners in South Florida coastal counties such as Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach will struggle to find replacement coverage.  Replacement coverage for those with older and wood frame homes will be challenging to find.

Last but not least, home grown Florida insurance companies continue to evaluate their existing risks and to selectively cancel policies.  A portion of this is due to their reinsurance agreements which limit how much risk they can assume in certain zip codes.  Sometimes they make a business decision to cut back on coverage especially in the South Florida counties on the coast.  Finally, some of the newer Florida take out insurance companies eventually reject policies that they've previously taken out of the state run insurance company after discovering risks that they don't want to be exposed to.  This could be a poorly constructed home or a home that hasn't been property updated or that has not been maintained in good condition.

If those aren't enough reasons to be concerned about cancellations during the coming year there is one other development that could lead to more cancellations.  Many Florida home insurance companies are moving forward with an aggressive plan to re-inspect homes that they presently cover.  Some of those homes might not be in good condition and may not be hardened enough to adequately protect the home from hurricane damage.  If your home is re-inspected by your present insurance company and they find a significant difference between the condition of your home and what their records show, you could join the ranks of those who have been cancelled in the coming year.

Finally, if your Florida home insurance policy is cancelled during the coming year, it is important to pay attention to the quality of the new companies you are considering.  Three companies suffered financial collapse in the last year and were taken over by the state.  Plus, over 50% of the remaining companies that are still active had losses during the past year.  If you lose your Florida home insurance policy this year, now is not the time to pick a new company solely on price.  It has never been more important to shop around.  Select the wrong company and you could be waiting a long time to be paid after the next Florida hurricane.

As the year unfolds, pay close attention to the news and to your mail box.  This could be the year that you have to come face to face with the reality of having your Florida home insurance cancelled.