You got a Citizens takeout offer. Now what?
This is the most under-answered high-intent question in Florida insurance, so here is the whole thing in plain words, including the part that is not your choice.
The 20 percent rule
Citizens is the state-backed insurer of last resort and it is required by law to move policies to the private market when it can. If a participating private carrier makes you an offer whose premium is within 20% of your Citizens renewal premium, you are no longer eligible for Citizens. That is a statutory eligibility test, not a sales tactic and not something your agent decides. If the offer is more than 20% above your Citizens premium, you may stay.
How to read the offer you were sent
Compare premium to premium, at the same coverage
The offer letter compares its number to your Citizens renewal. Check that the dwelling limit, the hurricane deductible and the roof settlement basis actually match before you decide anything.
Look at the roof settlement clause
Some takeout policies pay roofs on an actual cash value schedule rather than replacement cost. On a fifteen year old roof that difference is worth more than the premium difference.
Check the carrier's financial rating
Ask who rates it and what the rating is. The name on the letter is not always a company you have heard of, and that is not automatically bad, but it is something to know.
Then decide, if you still have the choice
Run the numbers with the calculator on this site, then call us. We will tell you if the offer is genuinely better, including when the answer is that it is.
What is at stake
Usually a few hundred dollars of premium and a materially different claims experience. The premium is the part everybody looks at and the roof settlement clause is the part that decides what you actually get paid after a storm.
If you do nothing
Doing nothing is a decision. Where the offer falls inside the 20% window, the transfer proceeds and you end up with the new carrier by default. Read the dates on the letter.
Citizens now expects flood coverage
Citizens has been phasing in a flood insurance requirement for its personal residential policyholders. If you are staying with Citizens, this is part of the cost of staying. See the flood page.
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Can my agent stop the takeout?
No, and be careful with anybody who says they can. The eligibility rule is set in statute.
Is the private offer always worse?
No. Sometimes it is genuinely better coverage at a similar price. We have told clients to take it.
Work it out before anybody sells you anything
Four calculators that run in your browser, a page for every situation Florida puts people in, and the claims data for your own county. All of it free, and none of it behind a form. The form is for the other half of the job: when you have read enough and want a person on the phone.
Leave a name and a number and a licensed Florida agent gets in touch. No obligation, and no call from six companies you have never heard of.
A licensed Florida agent may call, text or email you about your request.