[Tomterrif]

Anyone have experience with Ark Royal Insurance for the home bought in the Villages. Each time we get an alternative quote it is several 100 dollars higher. Makes me wonder have I bought insurance from a company that will respond properly if needed

[rivaridger1]

After Hurricane Andrew and the following storms, the Florida Homeowners market was largely abandoned by the large national property insurers who had huge exposures to Florida windstorms and could not buy sufficient " reinsurance " to insulate their stockholders from the risk of bankruptcy in the event of " the Big One ". Most withdrew from the Florida market with the exception of a few who set up Florida domiciled subsidiary companies which they could allow to be bankrupted in the event of huge wind losses without death blow financial repercussions to the parent organization. At the same time a fair amount of capital was committed to the Florida market by other individuals and organizations to set up new Florida domiciled insurance companies who would buy what they could in the way of catastrophe reinsurance and also be protected by a newly organized state reinsurance pool. These companies for the most part were lightly capitalized and simply designed go broke in the event of a truly major catastrophic storm. The return on capital in the meantime is quite lucrative and justifies the risk of losing all of their capital to the owners of these companies.

To directly address your point, all of these companies are fully equipped to deal with " run of the mill " homeowners claims and even most storm events other then Force 4 and/or Force 5 storms which take an unfortunate path when crossing Florida. In the event of the " Force 5 Big One " most of the Homeowners policies written in Florida are not worth the paper they are written on, in a number of insurance experts opinions, although claims will be paid until they, their reinsurers and the Florida Hurricane Loss Fund run out of money. Then it is up to the Federal government to come to the rescue.

As to " run of the mill " claims, all insurers licensed in the state are subject to regular examinations by the Florida Insurance Department which are intended to protect the policyholders from irregular financial dealings and " bad faith " claims handling practices.

I am insured by Ark Royal as well, and do not have any reason to take issue with them. In the event of the " Force Five " and the destruction of Florida property on an unimaginable scale, my recommendation is to be prepared to move elsewhere and write off your home's value when next doing your income taxes.

[NYGUY]

I have Ark Royal, but thankfully have never had to file a claim. My agent got a quote from Progressive (where I have my car and golf cart insurance) last year and found that Ark Royal was cheaper for the same coverage.

[Tomterrif]

Thanks. i expect the both responses are solid. I was trying to understand how Ark Royal could be 30% less than State Farm. I was aware State farm quit accepting new policies for several years after the hurricanes as they worked thru the claims. It makes sense that those who replaced them would be under capitalized. it also makes sense they might provide good service for individual events.