That sound you hear is my wallet weeping.

[digitaldiscipline]

Because my previous insurance company chose not to renew my policy, my annual home insurance bill is doubling this year because Citizen's Protective is the only entity that will insure GMBAN.  Yeah, that's gonna be a fun chunk of change to cough up.  How about the rest of you Floridenizens?

What frosts my McNuggets is what isn't touched on in the article - that private insurance companies don't need to be more affordable than Citizen's Protective, the supposed "insurer of last resort," which is intentionally more expensive, so as to encourage people to get insured elsewhere.  If the financial incentive isn't there for us, as consumers, to choose someone else, then why would we?

Also on the un-fun side of things was the price quote for new tires for Zim, since his are getting a little threadbare.  *prepares to cough up ~$650*

Note to self:  Get another price quote for a quartet of 195/50 R16's.

On what may or may not be a related note.... the Fearless Freak Forecasts have all been memory-tagged for ... well, someone might care.

Comments

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

Oy. That's one of my nightmares. I hatehatehate the homeowner's insurance racket on general principle. Huge sympathies to you, since I know I'm paying a lot and you're probably now paying positively ludicrous amounts (we've gone plaid!!!).

[etcet.livejournal.com]

This is my second most hated form of insurance racket - car insurance is #1, because it's state-mandated and -sanctioned extortion, period. If you want to drive, You Must Have Insurance.

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

Some places don't require car insurance. You just end up liable, personally.

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

I personally don't have a problem with car insurance -- you should have a license to drive and be completely responsible for your actions of that vehicle and what it does, whether you're in it or not. It's part of owning and operating the vehicle. And believe me, I understand it: since I moved to Phoenix, my insurance for the 99 Subaru and 05 Murano is almost *double* what I paid for the 99 Subaru, 97 Maxima and 96 Tacoma in Buffalo. For dad to have the Maxima alone in NYC was going to cost $3500/yr. That's almost blue book on the car itself.

Insurance is one of those things that by its definition, you kind of have to have and hope you never have to use. I would hate to get into an accident here from some illegal immigrant with no license, no insurance or anything and be severely injured. What happens to the other driver? Jail? Not likely. Sue him? For what assets? Now my life is seriously altered with no recourse because someone was too cheap/stupid/lazy to follow the law.

Yeah, housing insurance sucks too, but you moved to a place that has a long history of bad weather and expensive repairs *every* year. That's why most of the insurance companies left in the first place -- they gotta make money too.

P.S. Can you look at insurance companies outside the state? Or find an insurance company that does auto and home so you get a break?

[felisdemens.livejournal.com]

We are currently applying Jing Jang Cream to soothe the burning from our recent violation by Citizen's. It's a shared pain by many.

I'm pretty sure any and all statements by Jeb could be easily summed up by just a headline saying You're Fucked, But I'm Still Rich! Says Jeb Bush.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

If I was rich, I'd still complain about a 100% increase in my insurance bill.

"I live in a small, older structure which has been around far, far longer than the paper-mache McMansions and trailers that form the bulk of insurance claims, and am on some of the highest ground in the county. Please explain to me, using small words and diagrams where appropriate, how it is impossible for you to insure me now, when you were perfectly capable of insuring me last week?"

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

If you were rich, you'd still complain. Period.

Just out of curiosity -- did they specify why they aren't renewing? Is it just you, your neighborhood, your zip code, your county, your state?

If I remember correctly, part of the problem with the insurance companies is that FL law mandated that they cover certain things that they would not normally but couldn't charge more to cover it.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

The reason cited was, and I quote directly here, "100% crawlspace." Basically, if you have a house of a certain architectural style (most of which are older), they won't insure you, period.

I spoke with several alternate agencies, and they're not offering coverage to, in essence, anyone within five or ten MILES of the coast (for anyone familiar with local geography, the way it was phrased to me by State Farm was, "In Hillsborough county, we're not taking on anything west of I-75").

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

Crawlspace? I take it that means your house is "stilted" or elevated? I know in CA, it's seriously frowned upon because if bad weather hits (earthquake or flooding), and any of the supports go, the house is basically gonna be ruined. Lethal Weapon II also comes to mind when it comes to taking out supports.

So basically, it's not you. It's half your county, the potentially crappy weather and having an old house (the latter surprises me least, given that if you were to build a house like that today, it probably wouldn't pass code).

The part that sucks: of those, you can't really change any of them. But what is the alternative? Don't pay the insurance and risk potentially losing your single largest asset? Probably not the wisest thing to do.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

that would be correct - the house is on [brick] pilings about 18" tall. i presume the risk that the underwriters are freaked out about is the wood structure being "blown off" of them or some such thing.

if there's oceanic flooding to a degree where my house has salt water in it, downtown tampa will be under something like forty feet of water, and there will be serious shit-hitting-fan situations going on.

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I would imagine -- they're probably concerned that if any of the pilings go, you'd have significant damage to that section of the house.
Flooding: Better than that, your house would become insanely valuable now that it'd be beachfront property. =8-)

[bareflix.livejournal.com]

We were already on the "reamed by Citizens" plan, so our increase was not as much as yours was. I just love the whole insurance racket. I feel like I never know if I have the right coverage because there are so many exceptions and exclusions etc.

[mighty-man.livejournal.com]

Tires: try looking at a place that sells used tires or call a junkyard.

Dad and I used to get tires for the Maxima, Corolla, Nissan Pickup, Subaru Wagon and Camry that way. I think dad paid $75 for a set of four, including the aluminum rims for that old Subaru wagon.

I replaced the tires on the Tacoma with Coopers from Dunn Tire (I miss them!) and never replaced them before the truck went to my cousin's kid. The subaru got a new set shortly after moving out here when one of the tires developed irreparable damage -- I was forced to basically replace all four tires at the same time b/c it's a full time AWD vehicle.

And yeah, I think I paid about $550 for the set of four, because I didn't know where else to go. A couple weeks later, when I went to work at another store, I drove by a mexican run place daily that sells used tires for $100/set, mounted and balanced.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you looked at the car joints in my neighborhood, but none of them are the types of places that I really want to give money to [first, because i'd rather not have used tires on the car.... i've already -got- used tires... that's why i want new ones. heh. second, i really don't want to encourage these "businesses" to remain in the neighborhood by patronizing them.]

yeah, i wish we had a dunn tire down here.

look online...

[ross-winn.livejournal.com]

there is a nice set at just tires (Dunlops) for about $400.