Posts Tagged Florida

Why Florida Home Insurance Quote Generator Websites Can Cost You More

You’ve probably used them many times in the past to get auto, home, and life insurance quotes. Quote generator websites have been around in many different forms since the start of the Internet to help you get lower prices on many different kinds of insurance.

While there are many variations to the way these sites work, here is the basic process they follow for homeowners insurance. You enter information about your home including its location, size, age, roof type, construction materials, and other features along with your contact information. That information is sent by these websites to insurance companies who review your information and decide whether they would like to quote a price to insure your home.

All of the interested companies provide their quote information either directly to the website you originally visited or they might contact you either directly or through one of their agents. Depending on the quote generator website you used, you may receive an email containing a detailed quote, phone calls from insurance agents, or perhaps both.

In states other than Florida where there are hundreds of companies competing for your home insurance business, these quote generator websites can work well. They do the legwork for you and you end up with a lot of cost effective options to choose from.

Getting quotes for Florida home insurance presents a totally different situation when it comes to using these websites.

To begin with, unlike in other states, Florida has a lot fewer companies to choose from since only about 40 home insurance companies are writing new business. In addition, you should know that these Florida home insurance companies pay the quote generator websites for each lead that is provided to them. In reality what is happening is that the Florida insurance companies are paying the quote generator websites for the higher search engine rankings their sites have in order to reach more customers.

If you decide to use a Florida home insurance quote generator website, you will have to consider one or more of the following issues when using them.

First, some Florida homeowners insurance companies won’t partner with the quote generator websites at all. They sell Florida home insurance direct or through an agent network and don’t want to pay the additional fee to a quote website for the cost of the lead.

In addition, there are a large number of quote generator websites out there for each company to use to buy customer leads from. They will be limited to selecting only a handful of the quote generator websites that they feel will bring the most traffic and customer leads to them. More importantly, this means that none of these companies can afford to be featured on all of the quote generator websites. If you pick the wrong quote generator website, you might miss out on 10 to 15 companies in your Florida County that want to cover your home.

In each of the two situations described above, you’ll run a high risk of missing out on multiple homeowners insurance companies in Florida who want to cover your home or you’ll find that you are receiving the exact same quotes from the same few companies over and over again. No matter what, Florida home insurance will cost you more.

Missing out on even one company that is interested in covering you home is not a risk that you should take during the Florida home insurance crisis. Each new Florida home insurance quote that you obtain could save you thousands depending on where you live.

Finally, if you are planning on using a quote generator website to get Florida home insurance quotes, you have to consider the privacy of your personal information. While most of these websites protect your personal information, using some of them will result in you receiving a high volume of unwanted emails and phone calls from Florida insurance agents with a quote from the exact same company.

Given the situation with Florida home insurance, you have a much higher chance of finding lower cost insurance if you contact multiple independent agents that represent a large number of companies to cover your home instead of using the quote generator websites. Working with at least two large independent agents who can offer you the largest number of Florida home insurance agents is essential. Since each agent may represent a different group of companies, contacting more than one agent is your best chance to get a Florida home insurance quote from all the companies writing new business in your local market.

The more Florida home insurance quotes you get, the more you will save during the Florida home insurance crisis.

Michael Letcher is a Fortune 500 executive and a licensed Certified Public Accountant. His on-line guide can help you find low cost options for Florida home insurance quotes. Learn the secrets to low cost Florida insurance at =>
http://www.homeinsurancebuyers.org


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The Coming Rounds of Florida Home Insurance Cancellations and What You Can Do

Just when you thought you were safe from Florida home insurance cancellations, new threats to your Florida home insurance coverage are appearing on the horizon. And these cancellations are happening when Florida home insurance rates are preparing to rise even as we continue to experience a recession.

To begin with, the largest private homeowners insurance company in Florida is still moving forward with its planned exit from the state. If that company leaves as planned, over 700,000 Florida home insurance policies will be cancelled.

Newer Florida start-up insurance companies are doing selective policy cancellations in certain zip codes when they need to balance their exposure or to comply with the terms of their reinsurance coverage.

Many Florida home insurance companies are embarking on ambitious home inspection plans. If those inspections discover risks the companies were not aware of, your Florida home insurance policy could be cancelled. That could include anything from a home in poor condition to one that is missing hurricane shutters.

Finally, Florida home insurance rates are starting to increase again – for most those increases will be in the double digit range.

If your Florida home insurance policy is cancelled here is what you can do to find new coverage.

For starters, don’t panic. Florida law requires insurance companies to give you proper notice before cancelling your policy. That will give you adequate time to find new coverage before the 2010 Florida hurricane season.

Talk to at least five different independent Florida homeowners insurance agents about your situation. That will give you the best chance of reaching most of the homeowners insurance companies in Florida still taking on new business. While your present home insurance agent in Florida can give you some options, odds are that you won’t be given access to all the companies capable of covering your home.

Search for homeowners insurance companies that have been willing to cover older homes in Florida. Some companies will not deny your home coverage due to its age if the major systems in your home have been updated.

Ask each Florida home insurance agent for companies that are willing to cover homes in coastal counties and those located near the coast. Again some companies will cover your home near the coast if it satisfies their tidal water setback requirements and it has hurricane shutters.

Get a quote from as many companies that are interested in covering your home and make sure each quotes has identical coverage.

Find out how long each company has been selling Florida home insurance.

Research each company’s records for customer service and complaints.

Ask your agent about the company’s risk diversification across Florida and in other states as well. What you are looking for are companies that have spread their risk across a significant number of Florida counties and into other states.

Investigate the financial ratings of each company and determine the amount of surplus the company has accumulated to pay claims. If you are considering two different companies that have the same financial rating, select the company that has a larger surplus and more risk diversification.

While it is not good news to lose your Florida homeowners insurance coverage, stay calm. Contact several Florida independent insurance agents and obtain all of the information described above. This will give you the best chance of finding a new Florida home insurance company if your policy is cancelled.

Michael Letcher is a corporate executive and a licensed CPA. His on-line buyers guide can help you find affordable State of Florida homeowners insurance. Get his free newsletter at =>
http://www.homeinsurancebuyers.org


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