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I understand that any insurance company can dump clients for any reason but they got incorrect information from the inspector, I found out and upset me.
Here is a background
Just closed on house and I went by the book (with great feedbacks here at CD) figuring out everything I needed. In my search for insurance coverage, I got a best deal (so good that the people that talked switched to this company) from the sellers themselves. Just carry on what they have for years. I arranged with the sellers to transfer it to me and everything went as expected.
A month later the insurance company ordered an inspection even though the house just changed hands and I selected the exact same coverage and was paying the exact same premium as the sellers and house has recently updated, new roof a year ago.
A month later the insurance company gave us a notice to drop us didn’t even wait to finish the year that we paid in advance. I asked why? They said there is risk for sink hole. I asked to get the inspector’s report and found out if I were the insurance agent I would think the same based on the report. The inspector said there is a crack in one side of a house (which he blow up with his camera which doesn’t look to me a big deal) and there is pond 50 ft away.
First, I brought my inspector (during the escrow) twice—ones to see the house and again to re-inspect if some of the issues were address. He didn’t see any problem with the house. Nothing regarding foundation or any significant cracks
Now here is my problem
There is no pond that’s 50ft away as mentioned by the insurance inspector. In fact, one of our house selection criteria was not to have pond close to the house—because I was worried if we have gators for my active little one. You can’t even see a pond standing anywhere in our house. The only pond that is adjacent to other people house in the subdivision is something like 500ft or even more. I mean it's a nice walk away from our house.
This one is even very upsetting. He provided a picture of the pond that he “discovered” in our house which happens to be not even in our sub division. A picture of town-homes one after the other sitting on a pond and ours is a single family. I went out searching for that shot that he gave as a pond view and sure enough I found it about a mile or more from our area--in another subdivion.
These two looks very deceiving to me. Now I went ahead and bought expensive insurance and sure enough my premium went up and my research to get a better deal has gone now.
I really want to complain to who ever governing body he belongs. Do insurance inspectors are licensed? Do they have a regulator that I can complain in Florida.
Thanks for reading. Sorry it’s a long one but I feel better now.
My co-worker had basically the same thing happen. he didn't know it until he got a check from his Ins co for the prepayment he had made for the year.
He had a drain problem on the side of his house, but he had paid professionals to repair it. At some point the Ins co had sent someone out there and determined he had a sinkhole beside his house as well.
He had to send in pictures of his property and the receipt showing the drainage issue had been fixed. When he called after sending it in, they stated that his pictures did not match their pictures of his home. The Ins co had the wrong house!
He mailed the check back to them and it was all cleared up with a few pictures and a few phone calls.
With your situation you might even talk someone at the Ins co into looking at your house with Google Earth and they can see for themselves!
In my case all the pictures that he took are correct except the pond that he said it is 50ft from the house. No pond at 50ft and the one he took belongs in a sub-division a mile way. Insurance Co. insist in canceling the policy.
The best place to start is with the insurance company. It is very possible the Insurance Adjuster/Inspector mixed their field notes up with another residence nearby that they were also reporting on. Call the company first and request another evaluation by a different adjuster.
If you can not solve the issue with the insurance company you should then do two things:
Pull a copy of your CLUE report, CLUE and You: How Insurers Size You Up | Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. , to make sure nothing negative was reported on it. You might want to pull it anyhow just to make sure as there can potentially be other improper entries on it. Insurance companies use these to determine if they will insure the home and how much the premium would be.
Contact the State of Florida, Office Of Insurance Regulation for your options. You can read about insurances, the Florida laws, rules, regulations at their WEB site Office of Insurance Regulation. They have a consumer section there to help you.
The best place to start is with the insurance company. It is very possible the Insurance Adjuster/Inspector mixed their field notes up with another residence nearby that they were also reporting on. Call the company first and request another evaluation by a different adjuster.
If you can not solve the issue with the insurance company you should then do two things:
Pull a copy of your CLUE report, CLUE and You: How Insurers Size You Up | Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. , to make sure nothing negative was reported on it. You might want to pull it anyhow just to make sure as there can potentially be other improper entries on it. Insurance companies use these to determine if they will insure the home and how much the premium would be.
Contact the State of Florida, Office Of Insurance Regulation for your options. You can read about insurances, the Florida laws, rules, regulations at their WEB site Office of Insurance Regulation. They have a consumer section there to help you.
Good luck!
Thanks for your valueble info.
In order to not lapse my coverage (requirment of the lender), I had to find another insurer immediately and already got the coverage at a higher premium from another Co.
After Hurricane Andrew, State Farm went through all the states and dropped about 30-50% of their policies. They would use whatever excuse they could find to cut you loose.
That maybe this is what this insurance company is doing. They may just not want your business and have found excuses.
State Farm found a good reason to drop us back then. Nowadays when I get solicitations by SF I recall them dropping us back years ago. If you don't want my business during the hard times, don't ask for it during the good times.
Go find a new insurance company & don't look back.
In order to not lapse my coverage (requirment of the lender), I had to find another insurer immediately and already got the coverage at a higher premium from another Co.
I would have your current Agent pull a copy of the CLUE report for you. The Agent can describe what is on it and obtain information from the underwriter whether the information caused your rate increase. If there is something there causing the higher premium, and it is incorrect, your current Agent should be able to send out an Adjuster to verify the correct information. With that they can go back to the underwriter and have the premiums re-adjusted. If it continues to be a problem you can then explore the State WEB site for your other options.
The good news is that generally you can have rebates on overpaid premiums due to bad information. Check the State's insurance laws for that. Also unless you have some type of special policy you can generally cancel and receive pro-rated refunds if you find another carrier with lesser rates.
I keep using "generally" because some of this might hinge on your state's insurance laws. Here in Texas I'll give them credit as "generally" is "usually".
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