In-Surance

 Back before Hurricane Andrew, Homeowner's coverage was cheap and easy to get in South Florida. We had a mortgage then, which required the coverage, but I switched it so I paid it directly, so I was free to shop around. We had Prudential, and I think the premium was about $500 for the year.

Well, it was a good thing to have. Our house was totally "mistroyed" as D1 malapropped, and Prudential paid out a total of nearly $500K. Back then, claims were fast and loose. Paul still recalls being with me when the adjustor met me at the Bennigan's on US 1, after a brief drive-by, and handed me a check for nearly $200K. "Wow," Paul noted -- that's a big check of tax free money.

They also paid us retail for all of our furniture and crap, as I called the possessions -- turning knick knacks into, later on, tax free muni bonds and shares of Apple stock. As the final coup, they were paying us nearly $2k per month for loss of use, for the expensive, by 1992 standards, apartment we rented on Brickell Key.

I called the claims manager and proposed a deal -- we would close out that monthly claim for a lump sum of $15K, and the manager agreed. That was the money we used to buy my Suegros' house, where we lived until our much improved "mistroyed" house was finally ready to move home to -- in March of '94 -- some 19 months after the storm.

For many, from a financial standpoint, the storm came to be known as "St. Andrew," and we were one of those -- turning crap into real money, and ending up with no mortgage, a much improved, essentially new house, and a rental house that led to the meeting of Rabbi Yossi and Nechama. Pretty, pretty, pretty, cool.

Well, post Andrew, stuff changed. Claims were far more scrutinized. After Wilma, our neighbors Pat and Susan needed a new roof, which cost, at the time, like $80K. The insurer offered them $7500K, and they fought, using a public adjuster, for years, until finally getting paid.

And worse, it's far harder to GET coverage. Our fine GOP legislature and governor spend so much time on cultural stuff, like no abortion or "Saying Gay" or shutting down drag shows, they seem to not be bothered with the true crisis -- homeowner's insurance.

When we moved to Villa Wifey, we had Lloyds of London for general peril and liability, and Citizens for windstorm. Our combined premium was about $7500K. About 12 years ago, I found a local company called Frontline, which gave us AL coverage for about $10K. Also, Frontline had a great perk: each year you had them, they decreased your windstorm deductible 10%, so after 10 years, it was essentially no deductible.

Would Frontline actually pay claims if it got nailed in a big storm? Who knows? They weren't "registered," which meant that if they failed, the FIGA, or agency that covers failed Florida companies, would not pay up to $300K.

Still, I was happy to have the coverage, especially as neighbors started paying premiums of close to $50K for our absurdly valued houses. I kind of figured it wouldn't last. It didn't,

A few months ago, an inspector came by. I was nice to the young Texan, but knew he was essentially a death panel for me, to borrow the term for what Obama care was supposed to bring for older Americans.

Sure enough, I got an email yesterday -- since our roof was 27 years old, Frontline was dropping us -- they only insured houses with roofs 20 years old or less. Whomp.

I discussed roof replacement with the nice Andrew Palmer guy who was here a few months ago to fix a leak. He said I had probably 5 years left on this roof, and to replace it with either the existing clay tile or go to metal would cost about $150K.

Metal now costs the same as clay, on account of materials. I guess they ran out of the Latina women who used to bend the warm clay around their thighs to make the tile in the Caribbean. Really.

So I'll be going without windstorm coverage. I'm guessing a general peril and liability policy will cost about what I was paying. And truthfully, I'm far more concerned about liability than I am about fixing the house -- I can always sell the land and move if a Cat 5 or Cat 6, as they're talking about adding in this era of Climate Change, and move away. If Wifey or I kill or cripple someone by accident, well -- the damages can be devastating. And I need the underlying $300K coverage to keep in place my $6M in umbrella.

I spoke to Norman and Jeff -- they both only have the Fire and Liability coverage, too. Mike still has both -- he put in a new metal roof about 10 years ago, but his carrier constantly hassles him about whether his windows are truly "impact."

So it'll be adios, Frontline. Unless...

If a devastating storm hits before December, Frontline may in fact have to buy us a new roof. I'm sure I'd have to sue them for it, but I'd win. And then, they would renew us! At least in theory -- assuming they don't go bankrupt, which they probably would.

Yes -- insurance is a gamed industry. I'm just glad I won at it early -- in the 90s. Now it appears I'm leaving the table.