Some things about the Sunshine State are actually not so sunny. Florida homeowner insurance, for example. Florida policyholders are the least satisfied in the entire country. A nationwide study of ratings of their insurance found Florida homeowners dead last in customer satisfaction.
WHY THE LONG FACES?
Anybody who owns a home in Florida can relate to that. First of all, the premiums. In fact, Florida homeowner insurance policies are the costliest in the nation. Most expensive policies means least satisfied policyholders.
FLORIDA HOMEOWNER INSURANCE
Insurance, of course, is nothing but an expense until you need it. Then comes the claim process. By nature, a fraught situation. It spotlights the basic conflict of interests between the parties. An insurance company’s profits depend on paying out less in claims than it takes in as premiums. Hence, their staff adjusters are literally experts at keeping payouts as small as possible. Policyholders, in contrast, depend on getting all their policies entitle them to. The conflict could not be starker. The potential for frustration is built-in.
UPHILL STRUGGLE
It’s a completely unbalanced conflict, too. An insurance company, after all, has thousands of policyholders. It processes a large number of claims every day. The typical policyholder, on the other hand, has only one homeowner insurance company. And he or she rarely files a claim. The average for homeowners is one claim every ten years. Many never file one. In any case, a claim and the damage it reflects are a very big deal for the homeowner.
STORMY WEATHER
The unique patterns of Floridian homeowners’ claims further explain their low ratings of the experience. Across all the 50 states, there’s a connection between policyholder satisfaction and natural disasters. States with fewer natural disasters tend to have happier policyholders. Florida, of course, is prone to hurricanes. Thus, many Florida homeowners file their claims under post-storm conditions. TImes when a very large number of claims is hitting the insurance carriers. The company staff adjusters are overworked and combative. Homeowners are stressed, anxious, and even desperate.
DON’T GO IT ALONE
These are some of the realities of owning real property in the Sunshine State. We Floridians love it here. It’s no good, though, ignoring the basic facts of Florida life. That’s one reason a Florida property owner is wise to contact Florida Loss Public Adjusters after there’s been damage. You don’t pay us unless we recover a payout. And in sharp contrast with policyholders who go it alone, we know how to get every cent our clients are entitled to.