Looking for some advice on guiding a client for whom I recently completed a wind mitigation for. The insurance company is USAA, the home is in Debary FL which is not in the Miami-Dade zone. The home has accordion-style hurricane shutters on all the windows and doors, as well as rated fixed plexiglass on the eyebrow over one of the doors. In addition, the garage door is a Clopay labeled ASTM E 300 and verified with a design pressure of +30 / -30 and an Impact rating. All the specs and drawings on the hurricane installation were provided by the homeowner, and all items were labeled and verified at or above the required cyclic pressures and 9 lb impact. The insurance carrier is advising the client since the home was built in 2014 so there are no discounts. In completing Form 1802, based on my findings under section 7 in the Opening Protection Level Chart all Glazed openings were checked as A and the Garage door checked as D with checkmarks on “A. Exterior Openings Cyclic Pressure and 9-lb Large Missile” and "A.2 “One or More Non-Glazed openings classified as Level D in the table above, and no Non-Glazed openings classified as Level B, C, N, or X in the table above”. Given all the added unrequired protection for this zone, is this insurance agent misinformed?
WHO designated there were no discounts?
Did the actual carrier state this or is the agent saying this?
Did the agent submit your form to USAA?
Simply recommend the client ask for a review or switch carriers.
Opening protection isn’t assumed or guaranteed based just on build date, maybe a rep quoted something without submitting the form to underwriting.
Thanks Marc & Dominic,
The client spoke directly to USAA. I would assume it was USAA’s direct agent, but you know the saying about Assuming.
This is the statement from the agent which I respectfully must call out as Bull…
“The 7A -2 is standard for houses built in 2014, so no discount applies.”
If 7A-2 on the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form was standard, every home built 2014 to present I inspect would have cyclic pressure and windborne debris protection on all windows and doors. This, we all know is not the case here in central Florida.
I’m not clear if your form was sent or not.
If not, the agent has broken the law. Not his call.
He shall submit a form signed by a licensed inspector.
USAA has no real local agents, unlike most insurance companies. You just call in to an 800 number and an “ agent” (usually in TX) answers and deals with your needs. More than likely in this case client got someone who looked it up and found the easy answer was that most homes that age did not have to meet the requirement for discount, and just denied it. Suggest telling client to call again and ask for an “agent” with more specific knowledge of FL requirements. I had to do similar thing when I bought a house built in 1956, USAA agent said “knob and tube wiring often used that year so we can’t insure that home.” I later spoke to another agent who asked the right questions (has the KNT been replaced, yes) and got me insured.