Homeowners insurance rates could increase after
Hurricane Ian |
Article Courtesy of News Channel 7 WJHG
By Allison Baker
Published
October 16, 2022
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PANAMA CITY -Hurricane Ian left
behind a path of destruction across the state of Florida. But the
panhandle got lucky and the storm did not impact us.
However, we could see financial impacts from increased home insurance
rates.
“Hurricane Ian is going to have more of
an effect on our rates up here than Hurricane Michael did,”
Trey Hutt, President of Hutt Insurance Agency said.
Rates increasing may be hard to believe since rates are
already pretty high.
‘I was talking to a banker not too long ago and he said that
with the insurance rates with what they are he sees within
the next 3 to 5 years that the insurance is going to cost
more than the house payment,” Casey Tuggle, owner of Tuggle
Insurance Agency, said.
“Homeowner rates in the state of Florida
are about triple the national average and they are still
going up, mostly because of the fraud and litigation,” Hutt
said.
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Fraud and litigation issues can be seen after storms according to Hutt.
“Most people think that Hurricane Ian is going to be the rate driver
here but the rate driver since before Hurricane Michael has been
excessive litigation and fraud. That’s with a fairly small segment of
contractors, roofers, public adjustors, and people like that. They just
want to drive up the cost of a claim. Most of the dollars that are
involved in a claim now don’t go to the homeowner. They go to an
attorney,” Hutt said.
There are ways you can get discounts on your rates, like having a new
roof or getting a wind mitigation inspection.
“The best advice I can give people is to buy the newest house you can
afford,” Tuggle said.
Hutt said that it will probably be around the first quarter of the new
year when we start to see changes.
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