Allstate And Homeowners Insurance In Florida

Post-tornado law would allow Alabama residents to hire private insurance adjusters

Carl Brownfield and his wife, Rexanne Moore, finally saw their house in Shoal Creek Valley demolished in December after months of arguing with their insurance company about whether it could be repaired. The St. Clair County couple won the argument only after hiring their own public adjuster from Tennessee to assess the damage and make the case to Allstate. "I hated to have to spend the money, but for what I got, it was worth it," Brownfield said. (The Birmingham News/Joe Songer)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- State insurance officials and others are working on legislation that would let Alabamians with insurance claims hire their own adjusters, clarifying what has been a gray area of the law.

If passed, there'd be no question Alabamians could hire so-called public adjusters to help establish the scope of their losses and probably get more money from their insurance companies.

The tradeoff, according to a national insurance trade group that opposes the idea, would likely be higher insurance rates.

"Public adjusters are unnecessary and do more harm than good because they drive up costs," said Monique Kabitzke, the Southern regional manager for the Property and Casualty Insurers Association of America.

The role of public adjusters has been debated in the state in the past, but the discussion has become more pointed since the devastating tornado outbreak last April, which generated more than 117,000 claims totaling at least $2.2 billion.

Legislation was proposed last year to license and regulate public adjusters in Alabama, but it was dropped because of objections from the Alabama State Bar. Now, the Bar is working with state insurance regulators and industry groups on a compromise measure for the legislative session starting in February.

"The reality is that there are public adjusters in Alabama, but we don't know how many because there is no law that compels their registration," said Ragan Ingram, chief of staff at the Insurance Department. "A law would provide standards of education and training and would allow the state to know who is assisting Alabama consumers.

Florida Homeowners Insurance Coverage | WWW.THOMASBYERS ...

Florida Homeowners Insurance Coverage

2005 marked a record year for hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, with weather reporters resorting to using the Greek Alphabet to come up with names for hurricanes and tropical storms headed towards the United States. Unfortunately a few of these hurricanes, including Dennis, Katrina and Wilma causes major destruction on both the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico sides of Florida.

Because Florida is right in the midst of hurricane alley for nearly half the year, finding affordable Homeowners insurance coverage is nearly impossible for most homeowners and sustaining and repaying those Homeowners insurance policies is just as impossible for the actual insurance companies.

For quite some time, in the 1980s and 1990s, many Florida residences were covered by the state run insurance company, called the Residential Joint Underwriting Association. Only recently have large private Homeowners insurance companies, like Allstate, begun taking on homeowners insurance policies in sections of Florida, along the coastlines and in the southern part of the state, where hurricanes are more likely to occur.

Whether going through the state run RJU association or going through a private home insurance agency, there is no question that Homeowners insurance will be extremely expensive anywhere near the coast in Florida. The same home in Ohio may cost three times less to insure than it would on the coast of Florida, simply because of all the added coverage for hurricane season.

Since most basic insurance policies only cover certain natural disasters that could occur anywhere in the country, most often hurricane damage is not included in this policy. For that reason, Florida homeowners have to go about purchasing extra hurricane insurance to make sure their home will be covered in case hit by one of these ocean storms.

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