Here’s what I found:
How will deductibles work? If another hurricane hits and someone has already filed a claim, will they have to pay the 2 percent deductible twice?
A: This is a wait-and-see situation. Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher is asking the Office of Insurance Regulation to review the question, with the hope that Florida residents will not be charged two hurricane deductibles in one season.
However, if damage from Charley leads to still more damage, that should be covered under one deductible, Gallagher spokesman Justin Glover said. For example, if someone lost part of a roof to Charley and has reported it to the insurance company but hasn’t been able to get it fixed yet, water damage caused by the next storm should be covered under the original deductible, he said.
A 2% deductible for the first storm is easy to figure. However, if the roof is blown of in the first storm and the contents are ruined, the second deductible is 2% of the rubble, not the original value.
You have to understand “occurrence” and let your mind truely define the meaning. There most definitely should be multiple deductibles applied to new damage from multiple storms. The fact that there were only 2 weeks in between the storms does not make Charley and Frances a single occurrence. They have separate names! Suppose there was a month in between storms? 3 months? A year? How much time before we are to consider them to be separate events, separate occurrences?
Consider auto physical damage… Your left front fender was damaged by someone backing into you in a parking lot. You call your insurance company and local body shop to have the repairs made. Earliest they can fix it is in 2 weeks. In the meantime, the car is still driveable and you are rearended causing extensive damage to the rear of your car. Obviously, 2 deductibles would apply to the damages to your car. Same thing with Hurricanes. Unfortunate for the residents of FL, but a contract reality.
I understand and agree. What if, and in most cases this is the issue, the roof was damaged on both storms. On the 2nd storm there was some water damage because of the roof damage? How can there be two deducts for the same roof? Or bumper in your scenario?
YOU CAN DEFINATELY TELL THE LAWYERS RESPONSE AND THE AGENTS RESPONSE in these comments. The Lawyers are lining up already to tackle this one. Here in Orlando, John Morgan is already running the ads for his law firm. “Way to go JOHN” Of course as an agent I’m looking for the 2% deductibles to go away and get back to $500, $1000 hurricane deductibles. When the premiums for HOMEOWNERS increase more than what TEXAS pays for premiums (around $1800.00 or more per year) CAN YOU AGENTS SAY
“HERE COMES THE PAY RAISE”. When Floridians start paying in excess over $2000 – 3000/per year in premiums then we’ll see all the crying. You can’t have your CAKE and eat it TOO.
Is the 2nd damage to the roof or contents inside? Roof and roof will probably be one deductible. In my opinion, this boils down to the proximity of the storms and whether or not the first storm’s damage was assessed prior to the 2nd storm. If yes, then any new subsequent damages to the property should be considered a new loss, new deductible. In reality I believe that most insurance companies will excercise some degree of consumer goodwill and only apply one deductible to the roof scenario you point out(if roof and roof). Same would be so if my bumper sustained damage in the exact place on two occurrences. It would be difficult to really assess damage resulting from the second occurrence…same as if your roof sustained water damage once and then twice. But, if the first storm wind damages a roof, and the second causes interior water damage we will see some carriers imposing 2 deductibles. An insured’s duty to take reasonable steps to protect property from further loss has nothing to do with possible ensuing other occurrences that might result in loss. That condition is to mitigate loss from the known occurrence.
Johnathan – you are obviously with the insurance industry. The deductibles set are not an option to us who own property in Florida due to the losses they sustained from Andrew. they do not offer back anything to their policy holders in a year where the season is soft and there are no damages and they have huge profits.
also what happens when you have filed for a claim three weeks ago and no claims adjuster has been by and you have called every day to try and get them out to asses the damage. and what if the damage done by the first hurricane was such that the property would have been totaled in the first place? why should we pay deductibles twice for a piece of property that is already totaled to the full amount of the isurance?
If the claim had been made and paid, and the property had been fixed already, then yes another deductible.
you leave out one key point that you clearly describe. it is very easy to determine the difference in the damage on a car in your explination – front versus rear. I do not disagree with you on this example with a car. but how can you determine what damage was caused by the first storm or the second? and the deductibles on a car are our choice, not so in Florida for hurricanes. they are extremely high.
and what would you say should happen if you are in a car accident that dents your front fender, and before you can get a claims adjuster out to look at the damage, you are hit in the same place again? now the claims adjuster comes and looks at the damage and determines how much it cost to fix the damage and you have one deductible.
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Here’s what I found:
How will deductibles work? If another hurricane hits and someone has already filed a claim, will they have to pay the 2 percent deductible twice?
A: This is a wait-and-see situation. Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher is asking the Office of Insurance Regulation to review the question, with the hope that Florida residents will not be charged two hurricane deductibles in one season.
However, if damage from Charley leads to still more damage, that should be covered under one deductible, Gallagher spokesman Justin Glover said. For example, if someone lost part of a roof to Charley and has reported it to the insurance company but hasn’t been able to get it fixed yet, water damage caused by the next storm should be covered under the original deductible, he said.
A 2% deductible for the first storm is easy to figure. However, if the roof is blown of in the first storm and the contents are ruined, the second deductible is 2% of the rubble, not the original value.
You have to understand “occurrence” and let your mind truely define the meaning. There most definitely should be multiple deductibles applied to new damage from multiple storms. The fact that there were only 2 weeks in between the storms does not make Charley and Frances a single occurrence. They have separate names! Suppose there was a month in between storms? 3 months? A year? How much time before we are to consider them to be separate events, separate occurrences?
Consider auto physical damage… Your left front fender was damaged by someone backing into you in a parking lot. You call your insurance company and local body shop to have the repairs made. Earliest they can fix it is in 2 weeks. In the meantime, the car is still driveable and you are rearended causing extensive damage to the rear of your car. Obviously, 2 deductibles would apply to the damages to your car. Same thing with Hurricanes. Unfortunate for the residents of FL, but a contract reality.
I understand and agree. What if, and in most cases this is the issue, the roof was damaged on both storms. On the 2nd storm there was some water damage because of the roof damage? How can there be two deducts for the same roof? Or bumper in your scenario?
YOU CAN DEFINATELY TELL THE LAWYERS RESPONSE AND THE AGENTS RESPONSE in these comments. The Lawyers are lining up already to tackle this one. Here in Orlando, John Morgan is already running the ads for his law firm. “Way to go JOHN” Of course as an agent I’m looking for the 2% deductibles to go away and get back to $500, $1000 hurricane deductibles. When the premiums for HOMEOWNERS increase more than what TEXAS pays for premiums (around $1800.00 or more per year) CAN YOU AGENTS SAY
“HERE COMES THE PAY RAISE”. When Floridians start paying in excess over $2000 – 3000/per year in premiums then we’ll see all the crying. You can’t have your CAKE and eat it TOO.
Is the 2nd damage to the roof or contents inside? Roof and roof will probably be one deductible. In my opinion, this boils down to the proximity of the storms and whether or not the first storm’s damage was assessed prior to the 2nd storm. If yes, then any new subsequent damages to the property should be considered a new loss, new deductible. In reality I believe that most insurance companies will excercise some degree of consumer goodwill and only apply one deductible to the roof scenario you point out(if roof and roof). Same would be so if my bumper sustained damage in the exact place on two occurrences. It would be difficult to really assess damage resulting from the second occurrence…same as if your roof sustained water damage once and then twice. But, if the first storm wind damages a roof, and the second causes interior water damage we will see some carriers imposing 2 deductibles. An insured’s duty to take reasonable steps to protect property from further loss has nothing to do with possible ensuing other occurrences that might result in loss. That condition is to mitigate loss from the known occurrence.
Johnathan – you are obviously with the insurance industry. The deductibles set are not an option to us who own property in Florida due to the losses they sustained from Andrew. they do not offer back anything to their policy holders in a year where the season is soft and there are no damages and they have huge profits.
also what happens when you have filed for a claim three weeks ago and no claims adjuster has been by and you have called every day to try and get them out to asses the damage. and what if the damage done by the first hurricane was such that the property would have been totaled in the first place? why should we pay deductibles twice for a piece of property that is already totaled to the full amount of the isurance?
If the claim had been made and paid, and the property had been fixed already, then yes another deductible.
you leave out one key point that you clearly describe. it is very easy to determine the difference in the damage on a car in your explination – front versus rear. I do not disagree with you on this example with a car. but how can you determine what damage was caused by the first storm or the second? and the deductibles on a car are our choice, not so in Florida for hurricanes. they are extremely high.
and what would you say should happen if you are in a car accident that dents your front fender, and before you can get a claims adjuster out to look at the damage, you are hit in the same place again? now the claims adjuster comes and looks at the damage and determines how much it cost to fix the damage and you have one deductible.