Home Insurance in FL? (1 Viewer)

[Jon_Gregory]

Johnny, my insurance is not really with AAA. I go to them to get my insurance and I they handle it all, but I actually have Met Life Auto and Home Owners through AAA. My AAA office here in Pensacola, deals with multiple insurance carriers and I choose which plan and company I feel is the best out of what AAA has to offer. When I call the number on the back of my Auto coverage, I first get directed to Met Life until I input my policy number. It then directs me to my AAA office to put a claim in.

When Hurrican Ivan came through here last month, I delt directly with Met Life and did not even deal with AAA at all. I don't think AAA has their own Auto and Home Owners insurance polices, but I could be wrong.

This all allows me to get a better rate than what the average non-AAA member would get through Met Life. AAA allows you to get a discount by being a member. I guess they have deals worked out with Met Life and others to give their members a better rate just as you get discounts on other things because you are a AAA member, for example hotels.

I hope that this helps explain something.

Jon

 

[Eric_L]

I am told that a construction insurance policy can sometimes be 'rolled' into a homeowners policy upon completion with the same insurer.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Jon, I've gone to a AAA guy (actually he's in an independent broker) that AAA refered me to.

He has given me a quote that contains the following items: dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, liability, medical payments.

There are endorsements for home replacement cost, additional protection, personal property replacement cost, personal injury, water back-up.

There are "additional premiums" for FHCF, Hurricane, and a FEMA surcharge.

There are decutibles of Other Peril-$500, Hurricane-1%. Something called BCEGS.

Does this look like everything's in there? Anything we should be adding, in your opinion.

The overall premium is less than I thought it would be. I'm waiting to get the appraisal so that I'll know exactly what the value of the house is to be sure he isn't lowballing that to make a low quote.

BTW, does any of this cover landscaping. What if I have flooding damage and all the lanscaping and lawn irrigation system has to be replaced?

 

[nolesrule]

I highly doubt that policy covers flooding at all. It's usually a separate policy. Also, as someone who is on Home Theater Forum, you might want to be sure that the content replacement will cover replacement cost of your home theater and DVDs. Most policies have a limit on electronics, computers, collectibles, jewelry replacement.

Also, my first year premium for homeowner's insurance was low, much lower than I expected. It went up about 75% the second year. I never did find out why it was so low to begin with.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Yeah, he's snail mailing us info on flood insurance. Don't know why he couldn't email it.

That bit about the policy going up 75% has never happened to us. What area was that in?

 

[nolesrule]

I'm in Clearwater, FL. I don't know why the change happened, and I probably never will. It's not like I'm being overcharged .

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Johnny,

Having lived in the Tampa Bay area for 8 years, I can say it was one of the best places I've ever lived.

Some things to be prepared for:

-Massive amounts of humidity like you've never felt before. You probably already have heard this numerous times, but nothing can prepare you for your first summer in Florida. Luckily, you get used to it after a year or two. The humidity is bad, but the big payoff is very pleasant winters. Being in Jacksonville, the duration of the summer will be slightly shorter than in the Tampa Bay area, so it won't be quite as bad. It seemed like when I lived in Clearwater, many of the cold fronts would stall around Gainesville in the fall and early winter, thus those cool night breezes seemed to never arrive.

-It's good to hear you're in an area with good schools. I hate to say this, but FL's schools are pretty lacking in many areas of the state. There are good schools there, but they are more the exception than the rule. I used to teach down there so I experienced this quite a bit.

-Watch out for your car. Car theft and car vandalism are much higher in FL than anywhere else I ever lived (even LA believe it or not)...even in areas you would think are fairly safe. I had mine broken into on 3 different occasions and most of my friends had their car broken into at one time or another. Perhaps it isn't as bad in the Jacksonville area as the Tampa area. Get a good security system and if you've got an aftermarket car stereo...NEVER leave it in your car with the faceplate on or you will be sorry.

-Don't get upset when a whopping cold front comes through and it gets down in the 20s (or even teens up in Jacksonville) in the morning on occasion. These freezes are rare, but they do happen. The upside is that on mornings where it freezes, it'll easily be 50 or 60 during the daytime. Don't expect the winter you had in San Diego where it never gets below 32. Overall though, you'll find the winters very pleasant. I'd say 75-80 of the 90 days of winter will feel like total paradise. You'll have a grin on your face the first time you're sitting in your living room watching snowstorms shutting down everything up north while you just came in from washing your car wearing shorts.

-I'm not sure if its as bad up in Jacksonville, but it got pretty crowded during the winter months with a huge increase in temporary population. Traffic patterns can change quite a bit and what used to take you 10 minutes, can take you 25 in January.

-Again, this may not be quite as bad up in Jacksonville, but FL seems to lack the sense of community that is found in other parts of the country. People are constantly moving in and out of the state and sometimes you'll make great friends, only to see them move back up north a year later.

-Lastly, people seem to care far less about Home Theater. I'm not sure if it's because people spend far less time indoors or on their boats or whatever. Back in the laserdisc days, it was really a struggle to find laserdiscs compared to other parts of the country.

Please don't take the above as being negative towards FL because it's not. I'd move back in a heartbeat if I could. I just wanted to point out a few of the things that surprised me when I first moved there. Overall, FL offers a great quality of life with terrific weather, lots of things to do, and far less expensive than places like Southern California (even though I did love SoCal). I hope you like living there...I surely did.

Jeff

 

[Johnny Angell]

Hey Jeff, thanks for the pointers. Do you think it's going to be more humid then Little Rock, AR? I know its south of LR, so I guess it could be.

We are originally from San Diego, but we've lived in LR for about 12 years so we've goten used to the humidity here. However, we can't get rid of memories, so I always know its better elsewhere.