Many Citizens Property Insurance customers are getting letters saying they’ve received an offer for coverage from a different private insurance company.It’s part of a state solution to depopulate Citizens — the state-run insurer of last resort — from over 1.3 million policies it’s written in the past few years in the midst of the insurance crisis.The new premiums are often higher.In one case, the current Citizen’s premium is $5,053.00 — the new offer from Slide Insurance is $6,178.00 — that’s $1,125 more per year — the deadline to decide is Oct 5.What should you do?”I can’t tell you any one person what to do. I can say that it’s unlikely that it makes financial or fiscal sense for anybody to take based on those numbers,” said independent insurance agency owner Greg Buck.Buck said you don’t have to take the new offer if it’s more than 20% higher than your current premium.This above-referenced offer is slightly more than 20%, and he says out of 22 offers his clients have gotten so far, all but four of them are also more than a 20% increase, which means you don’t have to take it.But if you don’t, will your Citizens premium ultimately go up even more? The letter warns of possible surcharges as high as 45% more even if you don’t get any damage from a storm in your area, but one happens somewhere else that Citizens has to pay for.Buck says though, we just don’t know if that will happen, and when.”I would believe that in most cases, it’s still going to be better to stay where you are because who can afford to pay more for their insurance?” said Buck.
Many Citizens Property Insurance customers are getting letters saying they’ve received an offer for coverage from a different private insurance company.
It’s part of a state solution to depopulate Citizens — the state-run insurer of last resort — from over 1.3 million policies it’s written in the past few years in the midst of the insurance crisis.
The new premiums are often higher.
In one case, the current Citizen’s premium is $5,053.00 — the new offer from Slide Insurance is $6,178.00 — that’s $1,125 more per year — the deadline to decide is Oct 5.
What should you do?
“I can’t tell you any one person what to do. I can say that it’s unlikely that it makes financial or fiscal sense for anybody to take based on those numbers,” said independent insurance agency owner Greg Buck.
Buck said you don’t have to take the new offer if it’s more than 20% higher than your current premium.
This above-referenced offer is slightly more than 20%, and he says out of 22 offers his clients have gotten so far, all but four of them are also more than a 20% increase, which means you don’t have to take it.
But if you don’t, will your Citizens premium ultimately go up even more?
The letter warns of possible surcharges as high as 45% more even if you don’t get any damage from a storm in your area, but one happens somewhere else that Citizens has to pay for.
Buck says though, we just don’t know if that will happen, and when.
“I would believe that in most cases, it’s still going to be better to stay where you are because who can afford to pay more for their insurance?” said Buck.
Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.