FLORIDA – A Florida property insurance industry veteran said the eight new companies entering the market will increase competition and opportunities for customers.
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The Massachusetts-based insurance company Insurify predicts a 23% increase in 2024 for Florida homeowners’ premiums amid a property insurance crisis.
News4JAX Insiders are already feeling the financial pinch.
“My property insurance payment went from $900 a month to $1,495,” an Insider said.
“I just shopped for homeowner’s insurance two weeks ago, and it was like shopping in the wild, wild, west. I’m praying that I never need to file a claim on my new policy,” Insider Neon Neon said.
Brightway Insurance agent Matt Carlucci, who has more than a dozen years of experience in the property insurance industry said it’s not all bad news for Floridians with the eight new property insurance companies entering the Florida market.
“There’s also a lot of endorsements available now, people can maybe choose to have a higher deductible for certain exposures, which wasn’t possible before the legislation. Insurance companies are giving a very large incentive to choose some of these higher deductibles for very select exposures,” Carlucci said.
Other ways you can potentially decrease your property insurance premium include:
- Removing the replacement cost value from your policy, and insuring only the property itself.
- Have a private company install hurricane clips in your attic that hold the trusses down to the walls. This often results in premium discounts.
- Order a wind mitigation inspection on your property.
In regards to 2024′s hurricane season, Carlucci said Mother Nature is hard to predict, but he thinks Florida is more prepared to handle a major storm, this year compared to 2023.
“With the new legislation in place, it’s going to really help insurance companies not get taken advantage of by attorneys who are bad actors. Attorneys can be very helpful, but there are some of them that I think have taken advantage of insurance carriers. And it’s going to be much more difficult for them to do so now,” Carlucci said.
Insurify also released the top 10 U.S. cities with the most expensive homeowners insurance this year, and the top six are in Florida, including Hialeah, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and West Palm Beach. North Florida counties did not make the list.