Sinkhole Coverage now available

[GatorFan]

If you own a home in Lake or Sumter County, Kevin McDonald's Allstate office at Palm Ridge Plaza off CR 466 can now offer sinkhole coverage for your home.
No age limit on dwelling. Call them today at 259-3825.

[RickeyD]

If you own a home in Lake or Sumter County, Kevin McDonald's Allstate office at Palm Ridge Plaza off CR 466 can now offer sinkhole coverage for your home.
No age limit on dwelling. Call them today at 259-3825.

Comprehensive or catastrophic ?

[GatorFan]

Cat ground collapse is automatically covered. You can now get sinkhole coverage

[Marathon Man]

Ummm. Soooo, which is it?

[Gators]

It is the Optional Sinkhole Coverage that you pay an additional premium for.

[ColdNoMore]

So if I never collect on my sinkhole insurance, does that mean I have or haven't thrown money down the drain?



:D

[784caroline]

So if I never collect on my sinkhole insurance, does that mean I have or haven't thrown money down the drain?



:D

NO difference than if your house doesnt burn, did the insurance money spent go up in smoke?

[ColdNoMore]

NO difference than if your house doesnt burn, did the insurance money spent go up in smoke?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTwnwbG9YLE

[Uberschaf]

Every time I go by Belvedere I turn into Foghorn.

[Boomer]

Yes. Like the OP said, they are back in the market with sinkhole coverage for pre-owned homes in Sumter County.

I wonder if we will see Villages Insurance bring it back, too.

When we bought pre-owned a couple of years ago, we got the catastrophic ground collapse coverage but could not get the additional sinkhole coverage. -- I could never understand why it was avaiable on new homes but not pre-owned buys. But we were interested only in pre-owned homes. It looks like now we can have it. We will be looking into this.

Thank you, OP.

[GatorFan]

Getting a quote is free. Might be surprised.

[outlaw]

FYI: They won't insure if your roof is over 15 years old.

[jnieman]

Yes. Like the OP said, they are back in the market with sinkhole coverage for pre-owned homes in Sumter County.

I wonder if we will see Villages Insurance bring it back, too.

When we bought pre-owned a couple of years ago, we got the catastrophic ground collapse coverage but could not get the additional sinkhole coverage. -- I could never understand why it was avaiable on new homes but not pre-owned buys. But we were interested only in pre-owned homes. It looks like now we can have it. We will be looking into this.

Thank you, OP.
I spoke with them yesterday as I was just curious about it and she said they are offering it now but she did not know for how long as if it might be a temporary window. I worked at a local insurance company doing homeowner's insurance quotes for 3 years when I moved here and I don't remember any company offering to write a sinkhole policy without an inspection on a pre-owned home until now.

[msendo]

We just recently bought a pre owned home. Both sinkhole and mold coverage was included in our homeowner's insurance from ASI, through AAA.

[Boomer]

We just recently bought a pre owned home. Both sinkhole and mold coverage was included in our homeowner's insurance from ASI, through AAA.

Thank you for letting us know this. I will check with AAA, too.

[GatorFan]

So if I never collect on my sinkhole insurance, does that mean I have or haven't thrown money down the drain?



:D

Hopefully you never have to use any insurance coverage.

[joesin]

So what is the deductible ???????

[GatorFan]

10% of Coverage A

[Boomer]

The following link has information about what has changed recently regarding sinkhole coverage.

I am guessing we will see more insurers entering the market.

A Google with a few keywords will give you lots of info on what happened.

New Law Allows Florida Insurers to Offer Limited Sinkhole Coverage (http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southeast/2016/04/06/269930.htm)

[jflynn1]

If you own a home in Lake or Sumter County, Kevin McDonald's Allstate office at Palm Ridge Plaza off CR 466 can now offer sinkhole coverage for your home.
No age limit on dwelling. Call them today at 259-3825.
You might want to look at the financials of the company Safe Harbor

[GatorFan]

Financial Stability

Safe Harbor Insurance Company has been assigned a Financial Stability Rating® of A', Unsurpassed, from Demotech, Inc. - one of the highest designations available. The most current FSR can be verified by visiting Demotech, Inc. - Financial Stability Ratings (http://www.demotech.com).

[Paper1]

What would be different now compared to when it used to be offered. Dishonest people and Florida's legal community took advantage of this coverage. I sure insurance company has a lot of protective language in policy that would severely limit honest claim. Just guessing

[Boomer]

I have read that the insurance industry wrote the language.....what a surprise.........

Anyway, the information I am linking here is from the website of a big law firm based in Pittsburgh. They have lobbyists.

The language is relatively succinct.......especially for a law firm.

Anyway, who knows, but it's a start. I have not yet checked to see if Villages Insurance is getting into this.

Limited Sinkhole Insurance Available for Florida Residents on July 1, 2016 | News & Media (http://www.bipc.com/Limited-Sinkhole-Insurance-Available-for-Florida-Residents-on-July-1-2016-04-12-2016/)

[GatorFan]

What would be different now compared to when it used to be offered. Dishonest people and Florida's legal community took advantage of this coverage. I sure insurance company has a lot of protective language in policy that would severely limit honest claim. Just guessing

All language and coverages are aporoved by the State. The law and language changed when the legislation added catostrophic ground collapse coverage. Main difference from old law that many took advantage of is that onceclaim filed, company has inspection done and it is determined there is a sinkhole repairs have to be done. No longer can soneone take the claim money and walk away.

[VillagerNut]

Thomas Insurance (ask for Kate) and AAA have never stopped writing the additional sinkhole coverage. But the location of the home does matter depending on how many actual sinkholes have been in the neighborhood. The developer's insurance will probably never be interested in writing it for a preowned considering they want to sell you a new home. There are plenty of insurance companies that will cover a house that has a roof over 15 years old! That is also another one of the things that certain companies try to push you into a new house or take the roof risk off of them! Most of them will require an inspection for the additional sinkhole coverage. If you can get the additional sinkhole coverage you will be very happy if you need it!

[salopekk]

AAA offers it also

[amexsbow]

Does anyone know how many homes in TV have been affected by sinkholes? And where they are?
We are currently trying to decide where to locate in TV. I want to be in a section which offers natural gas for cooking, hot water heater and heating.

[ahardy]

We purchased a 1 yr old preowned villa in July 2015. We are insured by The Villages Insurance/ASI, which includes sinkhole coverage. Our deductible is 10% of the value of the dwelling. Is this deductible comparable to what others are being quoted? The annual premium for the sinkhole coverage is nominal, but should we ever need to make a claim the deductible would be costly.

[VyAllen]

Comprehensive or catastrophic ?

Does anyone know just how many sinkholes there have been at The Villages? I remember reading about one about a year and a half ago somewhere in Sumter County -- but don't recall reading about others.

Anyone have any idea?

[TrudyM]

I thought I had found a policy and when I read it although they didn't require the inspection on a newish home (less than 10 years) the language said that if a previous sink hole was know to be within 5 miles of the property at the time of the issuance of the policy that it was not covered. There was a sink hole on Truman golf course last year. I hope this new one doesn't have a loop hole. I had given up trying to find one that had coverage.

On an aside I just changed my insurance because I found out they (Gieco/Safe Harbor) didn't cover if you left your home for more than 29 days. We are hotfees and leave for 3 months in the summer to flee the heat so had to change. Plus don't want to have to ask permission of an insurance company to live my life.

[SandeBeach57]

From the initial homeowner's purchase back in 1998, I have had American Strategic with The Villages. I was told I HAVE sinkhole protection with a large deductible comparable to the value of my home. Can anyone elaborate on this for me?

[stujake]

We obtained sinkhole coverage as part of our renewal with The Villages Insurance. Unfortunately, the deductible substantially increased from my original policy and first renewal policy for my second renewal. You can check with them and get all the details.

[Boomer]

Does anyone have any updated information from any of the agencies on the new availability of regular sinkhole insurance?

[Investment Painting Contractors]

According to my new policy laying in front of me effective 9-12-16 from AAA SINKHOLES are covered with a DEDUCTIBLE of $1000. Hurricane coverage cost $405 with a deductible of $5580. Total bill for HOMEOWNERS Ins $1316. I hope this helps Len

[Boomer]

According to my new policy laying in front of me effective 9-12-16 from AAA SINKHOLES are covered with a DEDUCTIBLE of $1000. Hurricane coverage cost $405 with a deductible of $5580. Total bill for HOMEOWNERS Ins $1316. I hope this helps Len

Thank you. May I ask if is was through the local AAA office in TV. I prefer to do business in person. -- I am a bricks and mortar dinosaur. (blush)

We are presently with Villages Insurance and have been happy with their customer service. I have not yet asked them if the new coverage will be available from them. I need to find out about that, too.

That yanking of regular sinkhole insurance always looked to me like they threw out the baby with the bath water. Maybe now they have finally come to the realization that there has to be a lot of money to be made by providing reasonable coverage with oversight to prevent the kind of claims that got through on the old go-round.

[Investment Painting Contractors]

Boomer Mary and I also like to talk to real people. We went to the local office in front of Belks, they were very nice and answered all our questions.