Citizens Insurance Reverses Course On Inspection Program

August 19, 2012

With customers complaining about getting hit with higher premiums, leaders of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. said Friday they will revise an inspection program aimed at helping prevent wind damage to homes.

The program is supposed to give homeowners a discount on their premiums for doing construction upgrades such as improving roofs or better protecting doors and windows. But it has faced criticism recently because many customers have lost previous discounts — known in the insurance industry as “mitigation credits” — when Citizens has done reinspections of the homes.

Citizens Chairman Carlos Lacasa and President Barry Gilway held a news conference Friday to announce changes to the program, such as offering free follow-up inspections if homeowners disagree with the findings of inspectors. Also, Citizens will provide more information to consumers about a dispute-resolution process.

Gilway said the changes will put the “onus” on the state-backed Citizens to validate whether homeowners should receive the credits. State officials have long said strengthening homes against hurricane damage is critical to the property-insurance system and that credits can serve as an incentive for customers to spend thousands of dollars on improvements.

“We want to get the credits to them,” Gilway said. “That’s what ultimately reduces our exposure.”

The Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post have recently reported that reinspections have increased Citizens premiums by more than $130 million. Gilway said Friday that Citizens has completed about 255,000 reinspections and has 88,000 more to go. Citizens is the largest property insurer in the state, with 1.45 million policies as of July 31.

Lacasa, a former Miami-Dade County lawmaker, said one of the problems facing homeowners is that standards for receiving the credits have changed in recent years. The newer standards are more stringent, which has led to people losing credits during reinspections.

Gilway said, for example, standards have changed for how much of a roof surface can be flat and still qualify for credits.

Another frequent issue stems from inspectors being unable to gain access to attics to check structural issues. Under the changes announced Friday, Citizens will provide free follow-up inspections for people whose credits have been removed because of a lack of access to attics.

South Florida insurance agent Larry Willis, who phoned into the news conference, said disputes have even arisen from situations such as inspectors needing to go through clothing-filled closets to climb into attics. He said some inspectors won’t move clothing that blocks access.

Gilway said he will provide recommendations to the Citizens board next month about credit-related issues, possibly including whether the changes should apply retroactively to customers who have already lost credits. He said, however, Citizens will not retroactively return premium dollars.

By The News Service of Florida

Comments

6 Responses to “Citizens Insurance Reverses Course On Inspection Program”

  1. TZM on August 20th, 2012 9:08 am

    I agree with the post by Ben concerning the comments from Henry. I spend an hour on the phone with my insurance agent every year at all my policy renewals trying to understand the insurance mess this state is in and it is not a democrat vs republican issue. Both parties don’t have the brass to do what needs to fix this mess. Both parties are short term fixers!

  2. Jane on August 20th, 2012 8:02 am

    I like the idea of a nonprofit insurance company. Anyone out there want to start one?

  3. No profit insurance on August 20th, 2012 6:45 am

    We need non-profit insurance unions,like credit unions are to banks.Then we can all self insure together and not stuff the insurance companies pockets.

  4. Jane on August 20th, 2012 5:37 am

    Many people are losing their home insurance due to cancellations by insurance companies and the high cost of insurance. I have never made a claim after 2 hurricanes and lots of bad weather, yet my rates almost doubled. I found a new insurance carrier for $800 less a year. Look around and find less expensive insurance. The insurance companies are in business to make money, not help us after a disaster! Tell your legislators what you think….send emails to them.

  5. Ben on August 19th, 2012 9:53 pm

    Henry,

    You make some valid points toward the end, but you are so wrapped up in partisan politics, it loses much impact. Certainly, republican politicians are not working in our interest. But, democrat politcians are not what you think they are, either.

  6. Henry Coe on August 19th, 2012 1:37 am

    The real problem is that ever since Jeb Bush was in office, the state of Florida, thanks to Florida Republicans, has been in bed and owned by the Insurance Industry and their Lobbyist.

    As long as Republican are in charge of our Legislature, don’t expect to see anything different.

    And yes, I know that Citizen was started by the Florida Republican Legislature. The problem isn’t that it is controlled and run by government, the problem is Conservatism in Government corrupts government because it is motivated by profits and not the people.

    Citizen, the reason that Republicans decided to create it, was to off load the liability of privately owned insurance while protecting Real Estate values for those who live along the coast on sand bars that private insurance won’t insure.

    Conservative are using Citizens to continue building in areas that areas that aren’t safe and they are offsetting the cost of that insurance with the cost of insurance for those of us who live inland. So those folks along the coast pay less insurance than they should, in order to inflate real estate values while we who live inland pay more than what the cost of our actual risk should be in order to offset that cost for folks on the beach.
    While this also helps the tourist industry, everyone who lives inland is being taken to the cleaners based on zip code and not your actual risk.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News