Windows and Your Florida Insurance

This is the part of a window project most likely to pay you back, and the part homeowners understand the least.

The discount is required by law

Florida Statute 627.0629 requires residential property insurers to give actuarially sound discounts, credits or rate differentials for construction techniques that reduce hurricane losses. The statute names opening protection and window, door and skylight strength specifically. Insurers also have to publish their mitigation discount information, and they have to accept an inspection of your individual property to adjust your rating.

So the credit is not a favor your agent does for you. It is something the carrier is obligated to price in. What varies is how much, because the amount is set by each carrier’s filed rates and by what your inspection shows.

How you actually get it

Through a wind mitigation inspection. A licensed inspector goes through your house and fills out the state’s uniform mitigation verification form, which covers roof covering, roof deck attachment, roof to wall connection, roof geometry, the secondary water barrier and opening protection. You send it to your carrier and your premium is re-rated.

The inspection costs relatively little and is worth doing whether or not you replace windows, because most Florida homeowners are already leaving credits on the table for roof items they did not know counted.

The trap: partial protection usually counts for nothing

Opening protection is generally credited on an all-or-nothing basis. Every glazed opening has to be protected, and that includes sliding glass doors, the little bathroom window, and the glass in your front door. Protect fourteen of sixteen openings and you can end up in the same rating category as someone who protected none.

This is the single most expensive mistake we see. Somebody replaces the windows on the front and sides of the house to spread the cost, plans to do the back next year, and gets no credit at all for the money already spent. If the insurance credit is part of why you are doing this, do the whole envelope at once or understand clearly what you are giving up.

Questions worth asking before you sign

• Does this quote cover every glazed opening on the house, including doors with glass?
• Will the products carry approval documentation showing they qualify as opening protection?
• Will I get copies of the product approval numbers and the permit final for my inspector and my carrier?
• What is the current mitigation credit for full opening protection on my policy? Ask your carrier this one before you buy, not after.

None of this is insurance advice and we are not your agent. Get the numbers from your own carrier, in writing, before you rely on them.