There are great savings in bundling your insurance, but not so much in Florida [Miami Herald]

It’s one of the most common selling points of insurance companies on TV commercials. If you bundle the coverage of your home, auto, boat or life into one policy, you can save money.

But can you take advantage of that in Florida?

Here’s what to know:

Is insurance bundling available in Florida?

Restrictions:The bundling discount isn’t available to most homeowners in Florida, where market conditions are different than other states,industry experts say.

Savings:“Typically if you bundle your home and auto insurance you could save approximately 20% on each policy, and that’s a big savings,” said Mark Friedlander, director of corporate communications for the Insurance Information Institute. “But in Florida that is very difficult because you typically need to get your auto insurance from a separate carrier than your home insurance because of the way the market is.”

That 20% discount would otherwise translate to yearly savings of more than $1,000, taking into account that homeowners in Florida are paying on average $6,000 per year, nearly four times the national average of $1,700, according to data from the institute.

Why is bundling is restricted in Florida?

Departures: Florida’s insurance industry is going through a crisis, with companies having left the state or declared bankruptcy. The situation is limiting homeowners who want to shop around for lower premiums, especially in South Florida, where only a handful of companies are writing new policies.

Can insurance companies still in Florida write different policies?

Limited scope:The challenge of putting all your policies in the hands of one carrier has to do with the type of company offering policies in the state.

Regional companies:“In Florida, roughly 80% of the market is in the hands of smaller regional insurers that we call monoline insurance companies,” Friedlander said. “And monoline means that they only write one type of business, in this case just residential. They are smaller regional companies and they don’t write auto, they don’t write life or other types of insurance. So it makes it very difficult to bundle.”

Homeowner policy cutbacks:The practice of offering multi-policy discounts was once common, said Len Bujnicki, working out of Pembroke Pines for the firm We Insure. But then the large national companies that offer multiple coverage began to trim down their homeowners portfolios after a string of Florida hurricanes in recent years.

What about other bundling in Florida?

Other discounts:The practice still is alive and well in other parts of the business, said Bujnicki. You can still find a national company that can bundle your auto, life or motorcycle policies and save you money, but you will have a much harder time finding one willing to do the same with your homeowners in Florida, he said.

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