Here is an insurance claim question that we recently answered as a contributing member of insurance claim experts for United Policyholders who advocates for property owners.
Q. I have been offered a job in Wilmington, NC and would like to live in a nearby beach community such as Surf City, NC. Other than USAA, What is the best insurance carrier for flood insurance?
A. Before I answer your question, please allow me to give you some background on flood insurance as our public adjusting firm has seen significant changes over the years. Because of the high risk of flooding and the widespread damages that often result, the insurance actuarial folks could not manage or price this peril so as to set an affordable premium. Thus the private insurance industry was simply not agreeable to assuming the flood risk. Thus, flood losses were excluded in most all standard property insurance policies. In 1968, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created by an act of Congress as the lack of this coverage was affecting the economy and commerce. In the beginning years, this program while providing flood coverage, was very poorly run and claim service was terrible. Probably not surprising given that the NFIP was headquartered in Washington, D. C. as it quickly became a typical Washington bureaucracy, unresponsive and extremely difficult to work with.
Read More
Filed Under:
Tagged With:
The House finally came to its senses last week and amended the 2012 Biggert-Waters act by scaling back flood insurance rate increases. This is not only good news for longtime homeowners in coastal areas but also will help revive the real estate market which made some homes too expensive due to substantial flood rate increases. Amongst the positive changes are that new homeowners will not have to immediately pay full rates and those long time residents holding existing policies will see more gradual increases.
Read More
Filed Under:
Tagged With:
Well it’s that time of year again. No, not tax time. All the flood adjusters from all over the country are attending the Federally-mandated annual flood certification training. Over the course of several months, flood adjusters attend training workshops from coast to coast in order to receive certification to adjust flood claims. No adjusters, even seasoned adjusters with years of experience, can adjust flood claims without having gone through the eight-hour long course each and every year in order to keep their flood certification status active.
Read More
Filed Under:
Tagged With:
Q. The city where we live experienced a ten inch water main break that flooded our basement with 4 ft. of water. We hired a public adjuster 10 days ago. Now they are backing out saying there are limitations to what they can do. Should we go with the city's insurance? Should we find out what limitations there are with our homeowners policy?
Read More
Filed Under:
Tagged With:
With Super Storm Sandy’s anniversary at hand, not surprisingly, the national media is running a lot of stories on this Frankenstorm Halloween weather event. Having been there with our firm’s troops, we can bear witness to the awful devastation and impact on the communities and their residents lives from Sandy’s furry.
Read More
Filed Under:
Tagged With:
On September 11th last year, Rick and I flew to New York City for a planned meeting with
Anderson Kill Loss Advisors, a group of the nation’s top public adjusters at the Manhattan law offices of Anderson Kill. The purpose of the meeting was to meet and discuss current events and future plans for this team of professional adjusters, whom we are proud to be a member. Little did any of us know what would be coming a month and a half later.
Read More
Filed Under:
Tagged With: