2024 Hurricane Season: USF Sarasota-Manatee Expert Offers Insurance Tips

May 8, 2024 | Sarasota

Forecasts of an active 2024 hurricane season, which officially starts June 1, might make Florida homeowners fear their property insurance is about to get even more expensive. However, Randy Dumm, director of The Baldwin Group School of Risk Management and Insurance at USF Sarasota-Manatee, said there is not a direct link between the forecasts and what it costs to insure your home this year.

Insurance markets, Dumm said, are more complex and more competitive than that, and the catastrophic risks associated with Florida’s weather are already embedded in what homeowners pay in current premiums. Reinsurers may want to price hurricane risk based on the possibility of heightened hurricane activity at the June 1 renewals but even there, competitive market forces will likely limit the impacts, Dumm said.

Price spikes, as any Floridian who was around for, say, the aftermath of the prolific storm seasons of 2004 and 2005, Hurricane Irma in 2017 or Hurricane Ian in 2022, usually result from what actually occurs.

The predictions of an active season in the Atlantic basin, with more frequent and more intense storms, are based on science but they do not indicate what is going to happen at a specific location.

“Those who have been through active hurricane seasons here in Florida know that regardless of the season forecast, it is a reminder to be prepared,” said Dumm, who has more than two decades of experience studying and making recommendations on how to improve the catastrophic insurance market in Florida.

It’s all about properly managing the risks of living in Florida during hurricane season, a subject that comes up frequently in classes offered by The Baldwin Group School of Risk Management and Insurance, which is based at USF Sarasota-Manatee but also offers classes at campuses in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

With less than a month to go before the start of hurricane season and with so many unknowns, what can Floridians, when it comes to their insurance coverage, do to prepare?

Dumm said there are several basic steps a homeowner can take at this point: 

• In terms of coverage, homeowners should make sure they are adequately insured. They should inform their agent of any significant additions or other renovations to their home and ask them to make sure they are receiving all available premium discounts and credits available for roof and other improvements. 
• If the policy is renewing in the next 30 days, homeowners should ask the agent to provide competing quotes when possible. If the agent only represents one company, ask another agent for a quote. Based on location, options might be limited but the process may provide useful information. 
• If in Citizens or the policy is being non-renewed, homeowners should be proactive in attempting to find potential insurers in the private market. Insurance agents should be able to help here. 

• Consider increasing the deductible if the premium saving is meaningful, but homeowners should ensure that the higher deductible is affordable if a loss occurs. The delay in repairing or rebuilding because the homeowner can’t pay their share of the loss is not worth the premium savings. 

“If you were thinking about replacing the roof because the roof is old, then consider doing that sooner rather than later as roof strength/integrity is the largest factor in how a house performs when the wind blows. The strengthening of the building code across time means that not only will the shingles be new, but building code requirements increase the performance of the house in a hurricane and makes it more likely your structure will stand,” Dumm said. 

Dumm recommended homeowners check out incentives available through the state’s My Safe Florida Home program, which helps Floridians pay for the hardening of their homes and that could save them much more later if a storm hits. Gov. Ron DeSantis last month signed legislation that will add $200 million to the program for the upcoming fiscal year.