How Insurance Set Flood Insurance Premium for Your Broward County Property

by Insurance Guy Business

There’s never any getting away from the flood. There is no season for them, which means they can strike near you at any time of the year. Even if it has never flooded before, you can’t take it for granted. You need comprehensive flood insurance in Broward County to secure your family and property from incurring any financial loss due to flood.

Multiple factors determine how much risk your house is at from the flood damage. Insurance companies will consider all these factors while setting the premium you have to pay every year to obtain insurance coverage.

These factors include:

● Flood Zone You Live In: You need to start with obtaining information about the flood zone you live in. You can find this information from the Miami-Dade County’s page for floods. Alternatively, you can also ask your flood insurer about it. This is crucial, for if you live in a high-risk zone, your premium will be higher than those living in low-risk areas. The code represents the risk factor, which makes it easier to identify high-risk zones.

● The Quality of Your Building’s Structure: The materials used in the construction of your building determine its age. Natural occurrences like floods can reduce their longevity. If the construction materials were not of good quality, your building will be at a greater risk of collapse, which will increase the risk factor and hence the upfront premium.

● The Age of Your Building: The older your building gets, the more premium you will need to pay for the homeowner’s insurance premium. This holds for flood insurance premiums as well, which increases every year.

● The Height Your Property is Built At: Since the entire Florid is a flood-risk zone, many people build their homes at a certain elevation. This saves their foundation to get flooded when the floods arrive. The floodwater will need to rise to a certain level to reach its base. So, with an elevated base, the insurance premium will be lower.

● The Items Inside Your Property: These comprise almost everything you keep inside your house. Some of them could be precious items that could get damaged within seconds the moment they come in contact with floodwater. If you have many of such items, your flood insurance premium will be higher than what it may have been without them.

● The Coverage You Seek: There are two kinds of coverage available for people of Broward County:

o National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP): This provides flood insurance for up to $100,000 for personal item losses, and up to $250,000 for damages to the structure of your house.

o Private Flood Insurance: While the template for private insurance is the same as NFIP, you can seek higher insurance coverage for both the structure and the personal items inside your house.

Other Comparisons Between NFIP and Private Insurance

You need to wait for 3 days after purchasing NFIP coverage for availing its benefit. The wait time is less for private insurers.

There is much if paperwork involved in procuring NFIP coverage. It is much less in the case of private insurers.

You cannot change the contents of an NFIP plan. The policy issued by private insurers, on the other hand, can be customized to a great extent.

The area outside your home isn’t covered by NFIP. There is no such restriction imposed by private insurers.

Private insurance funds for your alternate accommodation while your property is being repaired due to flood damages. NFIP does not fund such accommodations.

You have multiple options to choose from for private insurers across Broward County. There is just one NFIP as a federal plan for you to choose from.

Got some questions? Get them answered by contacting your nearest agency for flood insurance in Broward County today.