Last April, as heavy rain soaked South Florida, Wanda Molina soon discovered her car had been flooded out.
“My car, oh my god, I really got lucky,” she told NBC6 a year later.
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WATCH HEREThe Fort Lauderdale resident considered herself lucky because she had comprehensive coverage, the type of insurance needed to fix her damaged car.
“They replaced the whole flooring,” she said. “It wasn’t a total loss. I was still able to run it.”
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Kim Palmer of NerdWallet explains if you only have basic car insurance, you may find yourself in a difficult situation if your car is damaged by rising flood water.
“You’re going to have to pay for whatever it costs to … fully replace your car yourself, so you want to have extra savings,” Palmer said. “Think about how you can have an emergency savings fund that can step in in this situation to help you out.”
According to digital insurance agent Insurify, the Florida average for a full coverage policy is $2,917 a year, which is much higher than the national average of $2,019. The average premiums paid in South Florida are even higher, with $3,463 in Miami and $3,278 in Fort Lauderdale.
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“Typically, in the aftermath of a natural disaster, the hardest hit areas do see the largest increases in insurance prices because insurance companies need to adjust their risk profile for that area,” said Chase Gardner, a data insights manager at Insurify. “However, rate increases are still approved at the state-level, so there is some level of risk that gets spread across a state’s entire population.”
After last year’s historic flood, Wanda saw a change in her premium.
“It did go up,” she said. “I wound up switching. I got another insurance.”
If your car insurance premium jumps at renewal, shop around for coverage. There is a good chance you will be able to find a better rate, like Wanda.
