Posted On: March 14, 2006, 12:48 pm CST

Posted By: A long time agent

I can tell you from 25 years in the business... Many clients show interest in Flood Insurance and say "of course I want that covered" until they find out how much it costs. Then they start rationalizing how they don't need it. "I live on a high spot, oh, the floods won't reach here, etc... In my experience virtually 99% of the people who paid for flood insurance were required to do so by their lenders because they lived in a "flood plain".

As we explain to clients over and over again, flood insurance seems expensive because of the cost of the claims. This insurance does pay out to folks and these premiums reflect the very real risk. Risk that is so great that insurance companies are not willing to accept that risk in exchange for the premiums.

Most agents put big red stickers that they get for free from the flood insurance folks on the cover of their home policies that say "FLOOD IS NOT COVERED BY THIS POLICY", yet customers simply don't want to pay the premiums.

How dare this politician jump on his stump and demand that insurance companies pay for something that was simply not insured. As long as we're at it, why don't we demand that all of the auto manufacturers pay to fix all those cars that were flooded and we'll call them "warranty claims"... who cares if the warranty says it's not covered! Better yet, let's extend it to include all cars made in the past 20 years... we'll just claim that the great state of Mississippi "expects" it.

And people wonder why their premiums are high and why companies often simply refuse to write risks regardless of the premium!