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Florida Hurricane Deductible – One Hurricane Deductible in a Calendar Year
In Florida, you only have to pay one hurricane deductible within the calendar year, provided you are insured with the same insurance company or group of companies.
Per Florida Statute
“If there are hurricane losses in a calendar year on more than one policy issued by the same insurer or an insurer in the same insurer group, the hurricane deductible shall be the highest amount stated in any one of the policies. If a policyholder who had a hurricane loss under the prior policy is provided or offered a lower hurricane deductible under the new or renewal policy, the insurer must notify the policyholder, in writing, at the time the lower hurricane deductible is provided or offered, that the lower hurricane deductible will not apply until January 1 of the following calendar year.”
The deductible applies on a calendar year basis. (For commercial and residential policies such as a condominium association policy and homeowner policies, the customer can select either a hurricane deductible on a calendar year basis or a hurricane deductible that applies to each hurricane.) Using the earlier example of the $9,000 hurricane deductible, that $9,000 applies to all losses during the calendar year for losses due to hurricanes. For example, in 2004, some areas of Florida were hit by three major hurricanes in about 40 days. This calendar year deductible applies only if the customer was insured by the same company (or group of companies if an insurer has multiple companies) during all hurricanes. Assume that a hurricane causes $60,000 in damage; the claim is paid less than the $9,000 deductible. If a second hurricane occurs during the calendar year, the $9,000 hurricane deductible does not apply; instead, the ALL Other Peril deductible applies.
In a different example, suppose that the first hurricane caused damage of only $4,000. Due to the $9,000 deductible, nothing is paid. If a second hurricane were to cause $45,000 in damage, the claim is paid less a $5,000 deductible ($9,000 hurricane deductible less the $4,000 that applied for the first hurricane, leaving $5,000 deductible). If a third hurricane were to cause damage in the same calendar year, the All Other Peril deductible would apply.
Per the Florida Department of Financial Services – below
“Hurricane 1: Hurricane 1 caused windstorm damage of $2,000. Since the hurricane deductible is $4,000, the policyholder must pay for the repairs out of pocket; the insurance company credited the $2,000 claim to the calendar year hurricane deductible. This leaves a hurricane deductible balance of $2,000, which will apply to a second windstorm claim resulting from a hurricane that occurs in the same calendar year. The $2,000 deductible balance is greater than the “All Other Peril” deductible of $1,000.
Hurricane 2: Hurricane 2 caused windstorm damage of $5,000. The balance of the hurricane deductible from Hurricane 1 is $2,000. Since the remaining balance of the hurricane deductible of $2,000 is greater than the “All Other Peril” deductible of $1,000, the balance of $2,000 will be subtracted from the amount of damage caused by Hurricane 2. After the balance of $2,000 has been applied, the full calendar year hurricane deductible is met. The insurance company will pay the repair balance of $3,000 for Hurricane 2, and all subsequent windstorm claims resulting from hurricanes that occur within the same calendar year will have the “All Other Peril” deductible of $1,000 applied to each claim.”
How Is the Calendar Year Hurricane Deductible Applied?
If you are insured by the same insurance company or an insurance company from the same insurance company group, the hurricane deductible applies annually to all covered losses that occur during the calendar year.
This means if you are insured with the same insurance company or an insurance company within the same group when windstorm damage occurs from a second hurricane during the same calendar year, the deductible for the second hurricane will be the greater of:
- The amount left over from the first hurricane deductible if the deductible wasn’t fully met or
- The “all other perils” deductible as stated on the policy.
If the hurricane deductible was met in full with the first covered windstorm claim, the “all other perils” or standard deductible would apply to other windstorm claims resulting from a hurricane that occurs in the same year.
However, if a policyholder has windstorm damage resulting from the first hurricane of the calendar year and then moves the policy to a different insurance company that is not a part of the original insurance company’s group, the hurricane deductible applies in full to the second claim without any credit given for the first hurricane deductible that occurred the same year. Policyholders should always file claims even when the cost to repair the windstorm damage is less than the hurricane deductible. If you file the claim, the company has a record of the amount of credit that should be applied towards the hurricane deductible for the second or subsequent windstorm claim resulting from a hurricane. Also, it is very common to discover hidden damage once the contractor begins repairs. A supplemental claim can be easily added to the total amount if you have already filed the original claim.
