Did you know, since Florida is a No-Fault state, if you are injured in an auto accident you are required to pay the first $10,000 of your own medical bills before you can go after the other party? This is supposed to be paid for by your Personal Injury Protection or PIP, but as you will see not all of your medical bills are covered by this.

The state only requires you to carry Property Damage Liability (PD) and Personal Injury Protection (PIP or No-Fault) to legally register your vehicle. Property Damage Liability pays when you hit someone or something and cause damage to their property. It would pay out a minimum of $10,000 in Florida. PIP pays for your medical expenses if you are injured in an auto accident. Let’s take a closer look at this. PIP only pays 80% of your medical expenses and some companies make you pay a $1,000 deductible before it even starts to pay. So, when you ask for just the minimum coverage, make sure you are willing to take on the enormous amount of risk that would not be covered.

Bodily Injury Liability, while not required by law, is very important to carry. This pays in the event you are at fault for injuring someone with your auto. If you injure someone in an auto accident in Florida, you are held liable for paying their medical bills. If you cannot pay them right away your license could be suspended until you can pay back restitution. The Florida Responsibility Law actually requires you to have Bodily Injury Liability of $10,000/$20,000 in place at the time of the accident. Under the Florida Responsibility Law, if you do not have bodily injury at the time of the accident, you would also have to carry a state filing for 3 years. That means higher insurance rates for the next three years at least.

It has been estimated that 1 out of 3 driver’s do not carry Bodily Injury Liability insurance in Florida. If you are injured by one of these individuals you are pretty much on your own. That is why Uninsured Motorist coverage and Medical Payments are also an important coverage to carry on your auto insurance policy. If you are injured in an accident Medical Payments pays with no deductibles or copayments. The Uninsured Motorist coverage gives you additional medical coverage and pays you for lost wages if you have missed work due to the accident.

You will also need comprehensive and collision coverage to pay for damages to your auto. Comprehensive would cover damage outside of an accident, such as theft, vandalism, and windstorm. Collision would cover your auto for damage caused by an accident.

If your auto is damaged in an accident, towing and car rental coverage are quite helpful. The towing coverage would pay to tow your auto to the nearest place of repair. If your auto is damaged, either by a collision or comprehensive claim, car rental coverage would pay for a replacement auto while it’s being repaired.

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Building in Florida almost always means settling and cracking. Foundations, driveways, and exterior walls crack from settling. These cracks have been fraudulently translated by some to be considered as sinkhole damage under the current Florida homeowners insurance policy description. There are firms that charge 20% or more of the total claim amount they are able to obtain from an insurer. An insurer will typically pay $10,000 to investigate a sinkhole claim. The average sinkhole claim for Citizens (our state insurance program) costs nearly $85,000. Citizens paid out $97 million last year in sinkhole claims and almost $2 billion to date. In 2010 Citizens averaged about 100 sinkhole claims a month and this year’s average is about 200 a month according to The Wall Street Journal Online.

Many legitimate sinkhole claims have been filed through the years, but there have been many more claims that have been solicited by public adjusters. For that reason we have seen insurance rates increase in our area to record highs. We’ve also seen reductions in sinkhole coverage in an attempt to try to avoid the solicitation of sinkhole claims. While sinkhole coverage can still be purchased, most carriers have eliminated the coverage entirely. They have replaced it with Catastrophic Ground Collapse coverage. This provides coverage for damage due to a sinkhole only if the home is condemned.

Recent legislation has attempted to address this issue as well. SB 408 was recently signed into law. You may read the entire bill or the summary here.

I will point out a few highlights here:

• The bill provides for more scrutiny in a sinkhole investigation, limits the amount of time a claim can be filed, and limits the amount of compensation that can be paid to solicitors.
• Citizens policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2012, which cover sinkhole loss may not include coverage for losses to appurtenant structures, sidewalks, decks, or patios that are caused by sinkhole activity.
• If the policyholder requests such testing, they must pay the insurer 50 percent of the sinkhole testing costs up to $2,500. If the requested testing confirms a sinkhole loss the insurer must reimburse the testing costs to the policyholder.
• As of January 2012 Citizens policyholders are subject to a Citizens policyholder surcharge of up to 45 percent of premium and emergency assessments.

Florida homeowners insurance carriers are offering as much as a 40% discount on their homeowners insurance based on the credits that the roof of their home actually qualifies for. We have found homes in Central Florida that were built as early as 1970 that had straps on the trusses, which is one of the larger wind mitigation discounts available.

What we recommend is having a certified Florida home inspector or Florida licensed roofer provide a complete wind mitigation inspection. Generally costs range from $70 – $100 and the savings on your insurance can continue for years after the initial policy period.

In order to determine if your home may be eligible these discounts, have someone take a look in the attic where the roof trusses meet the exterior walls. If there is a roughly 1″ metal strap or clip that wraps over the truss and attaches to the exterior wall you might be eligible for some pretty substantial discounts on your Florida homeowners insurance policy.

A motorhome policy should extend coverage off the road as well as on. A few things to look out for:

1. Make sure your policy has vacation liability (or full timer’s liability if this is your residence). This coverage provides valuable liability coveragemuch like a homeowners insurance policy would. For example, if someone gets hurt climbing the steps into your motorhome or trips over a hose.

2. An auto type insurance policy will not cover any of your belongings inside your motorhome. The value of these items can add up quickly.

3. Emergency expenses. Also not covered under an auto type policy. This would pay for living expenses you would incur if your motorhome was damaged while on a trip and you had to stay somewhere else while it was being repared.

As you can see there are many things to consider when purchasing a Florida motorhome insurance policy. Visit our Florida motorhome insurance quote page for a free quote.

The Florida Senate and Banking Insurance Committee recently approved a bill that would give homeowners insurers some latitude, allowing them to raise their rates without first getting approval from the state insurance department. The bill would let insurers increase their rates by a statewide average 15 percent above their current rate.

Senator Alan Hays, who sponsored the bill, said that while the latest bill is no “magic-bullet,” it would bring more latitude to the market. “This is an issue of consumer choice that hopefully leads to a more competitive market”.

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