Most of the time, we don’t think about our insurance until we need it. We pay for it every month, we understand we have to have it, but we don’t really think about it too much…until its too late.
With all of the flooding happening in Houston this week, I can’t help but write today about flood insurance. And, unless your mortgage lender enforced the purchase of flood insurance because you were in a flood zone, most people just don’t carry it. Or they think their homeowners will cover the cost of a flood, which is not the case.
Can you do without flood insurance? When does the premium outweigh the flooding risk?
The average cost of flood insurance is a $650 annual premium. This can be a lot of money if you never use it. But according to the National Flood Insurance Program, a flood causing a foot of water to come into a 1,000 square foot home, could cost over $27,000 in damages. And the average claim is more than $38,000.
Combine that statistic with one-third of all flood relief from federal disaster assistance goes to moderate-to-low flood risk areas, and you might not be able to afford not to have flood insurance.
How To Save
There are always ways to save on insurance premiums, and this is true for flood insurance as well.
You might want to increase the cost up front by doing some home improvements that could lower your premiums, saving you money in the long run. These include raising the overall elevation of your home or installing flood vents. But, unless you are in a high-risk area, the cost will probably not outweigh the benefits for low-to-moderate risk homeowners.
You other cost savings option is to choose a higher deductible or less coverage. Just make sure that you have a savings account that could potentially come through for you should you actually need the coverage.
And the easiest cost savings option is to choose an insurance service that can ensure you are getting the best service and most coverage for your budget.
Call Henry Insurance Service today at 225-927-0451 for a free evaluation of your current insurance plans and we can see how flood insurance could be an option for you.
