Five things to check on your policy before hurricane season

Florida homeowners get a fairly narrow window each year in which to look at their coverage calmly. Once a storm is in the forecast, carriers restrict binding and changes, and the policy you hold is the policy you are going to use. Here are the five things worth confirming while there is still time to change them.

1. Your hurricane deductible is not your regular deductible

This surprises people every single year. A Florida home policy typically carries a separate hurricane deductible, and it is often expressed as a percentage of the dwelling amount rather than a flat figure.

Two percent of a dwelling figure sounds small until you calculate it. On a home insured for four hundred thousand dollars, it is eight thousand dollars out of pocket before the policy pays anything. That is worth knowing in advance, because it changes how you think about smaller claims and about how much cash you want available going into the season.

2. The age and condition of your roof

In Florida the roof drives more of the conversation than any other single feature of the house. Its age and material affect what carriers will offer, what they will charge, and in some cases how a claim will be settled.

If your roof has been replaced since the policy was written, tell us. It is one of the few pieces of information that can genuinely improve both your eligibility and your rate, and it does not update itself.

3. Additional living expenses

This is the coverage that pays for somewhere to live while your house is uninhabitable, and after a serious storm it is often the first one a household actually leans on.

Check the limit and check how it is expressed, because temporary accommodation on this coast after a widespread event is neither cheap nor easy to find. Knowing the number in advance is better than discovering it in a hotel lobby.

4. What your contents limit is really based on

Contents cover is frequently set as a percentage of the dwelling figure and then never revisited. Meanwhile people buy furniture, equipment, tools and electronics.

It is also worth asking which items sit above an internal sub limit. Jewelry, collections and certain equipment are commonly capped well below their real value inside a standard policy, and scheduling them is straightforward when it is done ahead of time.

5. Whether you hold flood cover at all

Flood is excluded from the homeowners policy, always, and flood policies carry a waiting period before they take effect. Those two facts together mean this is the item with the least flexibility on the list.

If the answer is no, or you are not sure, that is the one to resolve first.

Do it in one sitting

All five of these can be answered from your declarations page and a short conversation. Send the policy over and we will go through it with you, tell you what is solid and what is thin, and price anything you decide to change while there is still room to change it.

Two more worth adding to the list

Replacement cost against actual cash value is the distinction that decides what a claim is actually worth. Replacement cost pays what it costs to replace the item today. Actual cash value pays that figure less depreciation, which on a ten year old roof or a room of furniture is a substantial reduction. Check which basis your policy uses on both the dwelling and the contents, because they are not always the same.

Ordinance or law coverage is the other one. If your house is damaged badly enough to require rebuilding, current building codes apply to the repair, and current Florida codes are considerably stricter than those an older house was built to. Ordinance or law coverage pays the additional cost of building back to code. Without it, that difference is yours.

Do the non insurance half too

Photograph or film every room, open the cupboards and drawers as you go, and store it somewhere that is not the house. Ten minutes of video is worth more at claim time than any inventory you will write from memory afterwards.

Keep a copy of the declarations page, the policy number and the carrier's claim number somewhere you can reach without power and without your filing cabinet. A photograph on your phone and a copy in your email is enough.