Homeowners Insurance Florida

What Florida Home Insurance Covers | Florida Hurricane Coverage | Top Risks for FL Homeowners | Cost of Florida Home Insurance | More Resources

Florida Homeowners Insurance

The iconic beaches and waterfronts that make Florida such an appealing place to live also carry unique risks for homeowners. The Sunshine State is susceptible to hurricanes and floods, which can make finding appropriate and affordable home insurance challenging.

But Kin can help. We can cover homes all over Florida without compromising coverage.

To learn more about insurance for your specific city, check out these guides for:

To learn about Florida home insurance, hurricane deductibles, the cost of coverage, and ways to save on insurance, keep reading.

What Does Florida Home Insurance Cover?

Kin’s Florida home insurance policies offer the following types of protection:

Replacement cost coverage for both the dwelling (Coverage A) and your belongings (Coverage C) when they are damaged or lost because of fire, non-hurricane wind or hail, theft, and vandalism. Replacement cost coverage can pay to repair or replace your property with brand-new items of a similar kind and quality.
Other structures coverage (Coverage B) to safeguard your garage, fence, or sheds against loss or damage caused by fire, non-hurricane wind, break-ins, or vandalism.
Loss of use coverage (Coverage D) to pay for additional living expenses if a covered claim makes your home uninhabitable during repairs.
Personal liability coverage (Coverage E) to help pay your legal bills if you’re held responsible for another person’s bodily injuries or property damage.
Medical payments coverage (Coverage F) to help pay for someone’s immediate medical bills if they are injured on your property.
Hurricane coverage to help pay for hurricane-wind related losses to your home and belongings. This protection does not cover flood damage caused by storm surges – only flood insurance can do that. Your policy has a separate hurricane deductible for hurricane-wind claims.

Kin can also provide flood insurance. Sometimes this is offered separate from your home insurance policy. We’ll look at that in more detail, but first, let’s talk about hurricane coverage.

A good policy will cover your home, belongings, other structures, additional living expenses, personal liability, and medical payments.

Florida Home Insurance and Hurricanes

Most Florida home insurance policies cover your home for hurricane wind damage. Your Kin policy includes a hurricane deductible for this reason. It applies once per hurricane season when you make a claim for losses caused by hurricane winds.

All Florida property insurance providers are required to offer coverage for wind damage caused during hurricanes. The law also requires insurers to offer hurricane deductible options of:

$500
2 percent (this is Kin’s default option)
5 percent
10 percent

These are percentages of your policy’s dwelling insurance. So if you have $300,000 in dwelling coverage and a 2 percent hurricane deductible, you’d be responsible for paying the first $6,000 toward a hurricane-wind loss.

As with most insurance policies, the higher your deductible, the lower your monthly premiums.

As for flood damage that typically accompanies hurricanes, your standard home insurance can't cover that loss. While your homeowners policy can cover certain types of water damage, such as damage caused by burst pipes or an overflowing sump pump, it won't cover flood damage caused by storm surges. Only flood insurance can do that.

Most of Florida is considered a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). These areas are close to the coasts and other major bodies of water. Homeowners in SFHAs are required to have flood insurance.

Kin can help most homeowners in Florida find affordable flood insurance to protect their homes.

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When Hurricane Deductibles Apply in Florida

From the moment a hurricane watch or warning is announced in the state, as declared by the National Hurricane Center.
Until 72 hours following the end of the watch or warning.
Anytime hurricane conditions exist in Florida.

What Types of Hurricane Damage Home Insurance Covers

A standard home insurance policy:

DOES cover damage caused by hurricane winds
DOESN'T cover flood damage caused by hurricanes

Top 3 Risks for Florida Homeowners

The risks your home faces depend on your location and your home's characteristics. However, in Florida, the biggest perils you may face are:

Wind damage. In Florida, these claims average $5,300 or more, depending on where you live and the severity of the storm.
Floods. The NFIP paid out more than $17 million in flood claims in 2016 for Florida alone.
Sinkholes. Florida experiences more than 17 sinkholes per day, and the cost of a sinkhole claim can exceed $100,000, depending on the severity.

In 2016, flood claims totaled more than $17 million in Florida.

How Much Does Florida Home Insurance Cost?

The median cost of Florida homeowners coverage is $1,172, according to our data. You can also check out the median home insurance costs for the following cities:

Keep in mind that your premium will vary depending on the location of your home, your home’s condition and construction, the amount of coverage you choose, and your background (such as your credit-based insurance score and claims history).

While you can’t control some of these factors, like the location of your home, you do have some options to reduce insurance costs.

The median cost of Florida homeowners insurance is $1,172.

How to Find Better Home Insurance Rates in Florida

To cut home insurance premium costs, consider the following:

Choose a higher deductible. This will lower your premium, but you will pay more out of pocket when you need to make a claim. Never take on a deductible you can’t comfortably afford with little notice.
Improve your credit score. This has a big impact on your rates. Simply paying your bills on time and not carrying a large balance on your credit cards can boost your score quickly.
Take advantage of wind mitigation credits. Florida requires home insurance companies to offer insurance discounts for homes that are hurricane resistant. Reinforcing your roof and installing impact-resistant windows will significantly reduce your insurance bill.

How to Find an Insurance Provider You Trust

You wouldn't trust your home to just anyone, so look for a provider with:

Responsive customer service. Your insurance provider should be reachable via phone, online, or via social media. They should have knowledgeable, friendly customer service reps who can answer your questions and walk you through the claims process.
Financial stability. Your insurance company should have the financial reserves to pay claims, of course, but also consider whether it has the physical resources available to help customers. For example, following Hurricane Irma, we sent drones to our customer's houses (with their permission, of course). This allowed us to get their claims started for them, in some cases before they'd returned home from the evacuation.
Positive customer reviews. See what homeowners are saying on Consumer Affairs and on TrustPilot. (You can see what our customers think here.)