Brandon Insurance

Insurance in Brandon, Florida

Brandon is ten minutes up the road from our Riverview office and a good share of our book lives there. It is inland, which means storm surge is not the driving risk. What drives Brandon files is roof age. It is an established suburb, and a large share of the homes here are well past their original roof.

Know the roof rule before you accept a nonrenewal

Florida law is more protective here than most homeowners realize. Under section 627.7011(5)(b) of the Florida Statutes, an insurer may not refuse to issue or refuse to renew a homeowner’s policy on a residential structure whose roof is less than 15 years old solely because of the age of the roof.

And once a roof is 15 years or older, subsection (5)(c) gives you a second protection: you have the right to have the roof inspected by an authorized inspector at your own expense before an insurer can require replacement as a condition of coverage. If that inspection shows the roof has five years or more of useful life remaining, the insurer may not refuse to issue or renew solely because of roof age.

We have seen homeowners spend money on a roof they did not have to replace yet, because a nonrenewal notice arrived and nobody told them an inspection was an option. If you get one of those letters, call us before you call a roofer.

Wind mitigation is where the money is in Brandon

Inland homes do not get the surge discount conversation, but they do get the full wind mitigation credit conversation, and it is the largest single lever on a Florida homeowners premium that does not involve raising your deductible. Roof-to-deck attachment, roof-to-wall connection, roof geometry, secondary water resistance and opening protection are all separately credited. A 2004-era home that had a code-compliant reroof often qualifies for credits nobody ever applied, because the new form was never submitted to the carrier.

Bring us your most recent wind mitigation report, or let us tell you whether a new one will pay for itself. It usually does.

What we write here

Home, auto, umbrella, small business and flood. Brandon is largely outside the high risk flood zones, which means most homes there qualify for preferred rate flood policies — very inexpensive, and worth carrying, because more than 20 percent of NFIP claims come from low risk zones.

Call (813) 499-9347 for a quote.