Category: Home Insurance

At Zenith Insurance Group, we want you to fully understand how your home insurance helps protect you against financial loss related to your Pinellas County home. Late spring and summer bring hurricane season, but your home insurance protects your home investment against hurricane-strength winds.

Florida Home Policies Cover Hurricanes

Although some states require separate hurricane policies, Florida does not. Although you need flood insurance to cover rising water flood damage, every state in the US follows that federal law regarding flood insurance. Your home policy from our insurance agency protects your home from wind damage and water damage that occurs due to wind damage.

Damage Types Covered

Let’s consider what that means. If high winds tear open your roof, then water enters through that hole, your home insurance covers that water damage. If your home only undergoes rising water flood damage, only flood insurance covers it.

The majority of hurricane damage, including downed trees and limbs, missing shingles, roof damage, siding damage, and lightning damage, home insurance policies in Florida typically cover. The home policy only exempts rising water flood damage.

Request a Policy Review

Make an appointment with Zenith Insurance Group, serving Florida’s Pinellas County, for a home insurance policy review today. Let us help you ensure that your home insurance policy fully covers your home. Perhaps you chose an HO-1 or -2 policy when you first insured your home, but you now want improved perils coverage.

Contact Us Today

Contact us to enhance your coverage to an H0-3 or all perils policy, so you can fully protect your investment in your home against hurricanes and other perils. 

It has been a long time since most folks have been away on vacation and this year everyone wants to get out and do things. But, while you are away, you need your home to be safe. At Zenith Insurance Group in Pinellas County, FL, we want all of our customers to feel safe knowing that they are well insured against most of the perils that could befall their homes. 

We offer you the following tips:

Don’t announce your vacation on social media

Everyone wants to share their excitement about vacation but we suggest you resist the temptation. The fewer people who know you will be away the better. Only tell those people who will be actively involved in your vacation. If someone is checking in at your home, they need to know the exact dates. If you have a trusted neighbor, you may want to let them know so they can keep an eye out for unusual activity. 

Stop your mail delivery

You can pause your mail delivery on the US Post office website, but always do it at least a day in advance so you can be sure that it is actually stopping.  Make sure that you don’t have auto-delivery scheduled while you are away. You don’t want a package sitting at your front door. 

Park a car in your driveway

If a car is in the driveway, it looks like someone is at home. 

Have lights that turn on automatically

Having different lights turning on at different times in different rooms gives the impression that someone is in the house. 

Set your alarm

It sounds like a no-brainer, but in the excitement of departure, it could be overlooked. Now go and have a relaxing vacation.

Contact Us Today

Give us a call at Zenith Insurance Group in Pinellas County, FL today. We want to help you to protect your home with the right home insurance. 

Florida is a popular place to live. It is more than just the warm weather that attracts people, it is the affordability. That is why so many retirees head south when they retire. Florida has its own unique risks for homeowners and having a good home insurance policy is a must. At Zenith Insurance Group in Pinellas County, we are independent insurance agents, which means we work for our customers, not the insurance companies. We have relationships with many top carriers to make sure our customers have lots of choices. 

Flooding

Without a doubt, the most significant thing that home insurance excludes is flooding. Flooding is a major danger in many parts of the country and causes major damage. Home insurance does not cover flooding. In order to have protection, you will need to buy a specific flood insurance policy either through the NFIP or through a private company. 

Sewer backup

What could be more disgusting than having your sewer back up into your home? Finding out that it is not covered by your home insurance certainly may come as quite a shock. You can, however, purchase a rider to have this protection. 

Earth movement

In some parts of the country, the worry here is earthquakes or landslides. In Florida, the main concern with earth movement is sinkholes and they are not covered under your home insurance. Again, you could add a rider to include sinkholes or get a dedicated sinkhole policy. 

Owner neglect

This covers quite a lot of areas, including pest infestations. If you have termites or carpenter ants, your home insurance won’t cover the damage. Mold is also not covered except in certain circumstances. It is up to you as a homeowner to maintain your home. 

In Pinellas County,  Zenith Insurance Group is the insurance company to contact when you want to discuss your home insurance needs.