The Coming Year Will Feature More Florida Home Insurance Cancellations

Your own Florida home insurance could be at risk in the coming year. More home insurance cancellations are on the way.

Florida's largest private property insurance company is moving forward with an approved plan to cancel 125,000 policies on homes, condominiums, and mobile homes. 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. It will also be difficult for those with older Florida homes and those built with wood frame construction to find replacement coverage.

Last but not least, home grown Florida insurance companies continue to evaluate their existing risks and to selectively cancel policies. Some of this is driven by their reinsurance policies which limit the amount of risk they can have within certain zip codes. Sometimes they decide on their own to pare back their exposure in Southern Florida coastal counties. 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 might be a poorly built home or one that has not been kept 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. A large number of homeowners insurance companies in Florida plan to implement an ambitious plan to re-inspect homes that they currently insure. Some of those homes could be in poor condition and may not be adequately protected enough to prevent hurricane damage to the home. 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.

Lastly, if you lose your coverage in the coming year, research the quality of any new company you are considering. Three companies suffered financial collapse in the last year and were taken over by the state. In addition, over half of the remaining companies still open for business lost money in the last twelve months. If you lose your Florida home insurance policy this year, now is not the time to pick a new company solely on price. It is essential that you shop around. Pick the wrong company and you could be on your own after the next Florida hurricane.

As the year unfolds, pay close attention to the news and to your mail box. This might be the year that you have to face the prospect of losing your Florida homeowners insurance coverage.

About the Author

Michael Letcher is a Fortune 500 executive. His on-line consumer database can help you find affordable Florida home insurance. Learn the secrets of affordable Florida home insurance in his free newsletter at => http://www.homeinsurancebuyers.org

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