Florida Sinkhole insurance
Get cost and coverage information about Florida sinkhole insurance.
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Ann Herro has been writing about insurance and employee benefits for over 15 years. She has covered topics as easy as insuring a car, and as difficult as transparency in healthcare costs.
Find the Best Sinkhole Insurance Options in Florida
Florida has more sinkholes than any other state in the nation. But not all homeowners insurance policies in Florida provide sinkhole insurance. A lot depends on where you live in Florida and the soil conditions in your area.
Read on to find out more about sinkhole insurance in Florida and how an independent insurance agent can make sure you're getting the coverage you need for your Florida home.
What Are the Best Sinkhole Insurance Companies in Florida?
Sinkhole insurance might be included in your homeowners insurance policy in Florida, but not always. While insurance companies in the state are required to offer the coverage, they can also decline to provide the coverage if your home is located where sinkhole activity is present or within a certain distance of the property.
You'll need to discuss sinkhole coverage with your home insurance company. Here are some of the best home insurance companies in Florida. They offer a mix of valuable coverage offerings and competitive pricing.
- Progressive: Progressive is based in Ohio but offers home insurance across all 50 states, including Florida. Florida residents can look to Progressive for most of their personal insurance needs.
- Stillwater Insurance Group: Stillwater is a national personal and commercial lines carrier with rock-solid financial stability. The company can help you with your home insurance needs in Florida.
- Florida Peninsula Insurance Company: Florida Peninsula offers affordable homeowners insurance in Florida.
An independent insurance agent in your area can help you learn more about these and other Florida home insurance companies. A local agent can help you get competitive quotes for the coverage that fits your needs.
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What Is a Sinkhole?
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a sinkhole is an area of ground with no external surface drainage. These areas retain water when it rains, causing the bedrock to erode and become unstable. As an underground void develops, the instability can eventually cause a collapse.
Sinkholes can sometimes be minor and even go unnoticed. Other times they can cause catastrophic damage to homes or other developed properties.
What Is Sinkhole Insurance?
Even a small shift in the earth beneath the foundation of your home can cause severe structural damage. A major sinkhole can swallow up an entire building and its contents.
Sinkhole insurance reimburses you for damage to your home, outlying property, and personal belongings if they are damaged as the result of sinkhole activity on your property. Some homeowners policies offer special endorsements for sinkhole coverage. Without it, sinkhole damage is probably classified as "earth movement" and specifically excluded from your policy.
In Florida, however, insurance companies must offer a sinkhole coverage endorsement that provides coverage for sinkhole damage. Yet while Florida insurance companies are required to offer this coverage, they'll want to inspect your property and perhaps perform geological testing to detect sinkholes that may already be present. In these cases, the insurance company may decline to offer sinkhole coverage.
However, if an insurance company is willing to insure your home, regardless of its location, the policy must include catastrophic ground cover collapse coverage, which has very specific requirements in order for your damage to be covered.
What Does Sinkhole Insurance Cover in Florida?
Sinkhole insurance covers damage to your home caused by a sinkhole. Likewise, catastrophic ground cover collapse covers you for a loss caused when your home falls into a sinkhole.
Florida law defines a sinkhole as “a land form created by subsidence of soil, sediment, or rock as underlying strata are dissolved by groundwater."
Meanwhile, a loss that's covered by catastrophic ground collapse must meet the following criteria:
- Abrupt collapse of ground cover
- A visible depression in the ground
- The insured structure being condemned and ordered to be vacated by local government
An independent insurance agent in Florida can help you understand your sinkhole insurance.
How Much Does Sinkhole Insurance Cost in Florida?
Sinkhole coverage will require an additional premium besides your regular Florida home insurance premium. Unfortunately, Florida has the most expensive homeowners insurance in the U.S., with policies costing around $2,437 per year on average.
While everyone's home insurance rates are different depending on where they live and the characteristics of their home, sinkhole insurance in Florida will always be an additional but important cost.
An independent insurance agent in Florida can help you review your home insurance options and find the most affordable coverage that also meets your needs.
Ready to Save On Insurance?
Our independent agents shop around to find you the best coverage.
Florida Sinkhole Insurance FAQs
Sinkhole coverage will require an additional premium besides your regular Florida home insurance premium. Unfortunately, Florida has the most expensive homeowner insurance in the U.S., with policies costing around $2,437 per year on average.
Home rates in Florida are highly variable from town to town. The characteristics of your home and where it's located are the primary drivers of these types of insurance premiums.
If you have a sinkhole coverage endorsement on your Florida home insurance policy, it covers damage caused by sinkhole activity on your property. Likewise, catastrophic ground cover collapse coverage reimburses you for damage under the specific circumstances defined as a catastrophic ground collapse:
- Abrupt collapse of ground cover
- A visible depression in the ground
- The insured structure being condemned and ordered to be vacated by local government
Independent insurance agents in Florida can help you be sure that your property is sufficiently protected from dangers like sinkholes. A local agent can help you compare policies and costs from numerous insurance companies.
Find an independent insurance agent near you to get more information and to start reviewing quotes for Florida sinkhole insurance.
https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-renters-insurance
https://www.myfloridacfo.com/docs-sf/consumer-services-libraries/consumerservices-documents/understanding-coverage/consumer-guides/english---homeowners-insurance-toolkit.pdf?sfvrsn=1a17d80c_18
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/sinkholes#:~:text=These%20collapses%20can%20be%20small,Kentucky%2C%20Tennessee%2C%20and%20Pennsylvania.