Lake Worth, FL: Over a quarter of a million Florida homeowners who have insurance through Citizens Property Insurance Corporation have had their homes inspected through the Citizens Reinspection Program. 74% of these reinspections, or nearly 200,000 Florida policyholders, have lost valuable wind mitigation discounts as a result. The average impact on those homeowner’s home insurance rates is staggering. These homeowners are hit with on average a 24% rate hike resulting in an average $600 per year in additional premium. Unfortunately, many of these reinspections are simply flawed. Reinspections are based on visual observations and human error may be introduced by large centralized inspection companies that lack local or regional knowledge of building features and construction practices. Some evaluators may also avoid performing due diligence in collecting or researching searches or expend additional effort to assist homeowners who lack qualified documentation, even when the feature (i.e. new roof or shutters) qualifies for discounts.

After reviewing scores of flawed reinspection reports, it was obvious that these homeowners needed help. FAIR partnered with SafeRisc, a statewide network of the best qualified inspectors in Florida to review these reports and achieve reinstatement of credits. The FAIR review process determines if there is reasonable cause to suspect that the reinspection evaluator failed to obtain easily acquired documentation, did not properly review documentation provided by the homeowner, or overlooked features during their visual inspection. The fee for this review is $50 and includes a written report that either validates the reinspection or, provides specific recommendations on how to achieve the reinstatement of credits. To ensure that homeowners do not pay for a review when reinstatement is unlikely, SafeRisc and FAIR have a questionnaire designed to help the homeowner determine whether or not a review might be beneficial.

Homeowners who were stripped of mitigation discounts should get a copy of their reinspection report to reference, and then go to the FAIR website at www.floridainsurancereform.org to start the review process.

These quallity assurance reviews are performed by highly qualified and experienced professionals who have performed thousands of wind mitigation inspections,” said Jay Neal, FAIR’s Executive Director. “More importantly, they will go the extra distance to make sure that eligible credits are verified so that the homeowner’s interests are properly protected.

To find out more: http://fairinsurance4florida.org/reinsp.html