While the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) offers flood insurance coverage to homeowners and businesses, private flood insurance options may provide more flexibility and significant cost savings on flood insurance costs. Private insurers often offer competitive rates and more customizable coverage options tailored specifically to reduce your flood insurance costs. Coastal Insurance Solutions partners with top-rated private insurers to offer a wide range of options, allowing you to find the flood insurance coverage that best fits your budget and requirements.
In addition to a potentially massive decrease in flood insurance costs, private flood insurance policies often have shorter waiting periods before coverage becomes effective. Unlike standard NFIP policies, which require a 30-day wait from the time coverage is written until it goes into effect, private policies can reduce the flood insurance cost by becoming active more quickly. FEMA implements this waiting period to prevent just-in-time policy purchases before a major weather event.
Private flood insurance policies also offer higher coverage limits, ensuring that homeowners have adequate protection for their property and belongings, ultimately influencing the overall flood insurance cost. A flood insurance policy separates your home’s building coverage and contents into two primary areas of coverage against flood risk:
Building Coverage
This coverage for your home insurance policy covers the building itself, including attached fixtures, plumbing and electrical systems, furnaces, water heaters, carpeting, flooring, and more. It also extends to detached garages and solar energy equipment, impacting the flood insurance cost by providing broader coverage.
The NFIP caps coverage at $250,000 for single-family homes.
A private market flood insurance policy can provide coverage up to $4,000,000.
Contents Coverage
This protects your personal belongings, including clothing, furniture, electronics, and detached appliances like washers and dryers. It’s another area where flood insurance costs can be adjusted based on the coverage limit.
The NFIP provides up to $100,000 in actual cash value coverage.
A private market flood insurance policy can provide coverage up to $1,000,000.
Private flood insurance policies may cover additional items and structures that NFIP policies do not, such as detached garages, sheds, and certain personal property, further affecting the flood insurance cost. Unlike the NFIP, which does not cover structures not permanently attached to your home like garages, pool houses, or sheds, and specifically excludes swimming pools, private market options like Neptune may include coverage for swimming pool repairs & refill costs up to $10,000 if that coverage extension is chosen. Neptune also offers up to $50,000 in optional coverage for unattached structures, potentially reducing your overall flood insurance cost.
