As extra policyholders with Florida’s Residents Property Insurance coverage are statutorily required to buy flood insurance coverage, one other insurance coverage rate-quoting service has gotten in on the act.
Officers with HoneyQuote.com introduced Monday that the agency has began providing flood insurance coverage quotes from a number of non-public flood insurance coverage corporations. The service joins not less than 9 different on-line instruments that present worth quotes.
“Florida householders are actually navigating a quickly altering insurance coverage panorama,” stated Justin Zemaitis, chief insurance coverage officer at HoneyQuote. “By partnering with main non-public insurers, we’re offering tailor-made flood insurance coverage choices that empower residents to make knowledgeable choices about defending their properties.”
HoneyQuote, calling itself a digital insurance coverage company, has specialised within the on-line market, significantly for Florida householders and condominiums. NSI Insurance coverage Group, a privately owned brokerage, owns a majority stake in HoneyQuote.
Including flood quotes to its system comes as hurricanes and different storms look like intensifying, bringing heavier and more-frequent rainfall and flooding to areas throughout the Southeast. And Florida regulation, mandating flood protection for Residents’ householders, now enters its third 12 months of phased-in protection necessities. Beginning this 12 months, properties valued at $500,000 or extra should buy flood protection if they continue to be with Residents, Florida’s insurer of final resort and the state’s largest property service. Subsequent January, the home-value threshold drops to $400,000. By 2027, all Residents’ policyholders should purchase flood, no matter location or elevation.
The HoneyQuote software contains quotes from as much as a dozen non-public corporations, a few of that are write-your-own companies providing Nationwide Flood Insurance coverage Program insurance policies. A comparability of the location to NFIP’s personal quote software exhibits that insurance policies from HoneyQuote’s software have been much like insurance policies priced instantly by means of the federal program.
For a 1,500-square-foot Pensacola, Florida, house in-built 1953 simply outdoors the Federal Emergency Administration Company’s particular flood hazard space, for instance, HoneyQuote’s on-line software produced eight quotes between $483 a 12 months and $716 per 12 months. Protection was set at $250,000 to $269,000 for the constructing and $68,000 for contents. Just one non-public flood insurer got here in at greater than that – with premiums above $2,500 yearly.
NFIP limits protection to $250,000. So, for a similar property with related protection, the quotes have been between $571 and $620 per 12 months, in accordance with the NFIP’s on-line software.
Prime picture: Mike Kelley navigates flooded streets in Geneva, Florida, following Hurricane Ian in 2022. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Related: FEMA Flood Maps May be Exacerbating Building in Some Flood Areas
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