Three weeks ago I received my annual insurance renewal bill. Premiums went up over 40 percent. (Checked around and I found that a good deal was only a 25 percent increase.)
I called my son in Georgia who owns an insurance agency. He proceeded to tell me that this is common throughout the south. He said one principle possible reason for these increases has been SEMI-FRAUDULENT claims for roofing work that really didn’t need to be done.
Today, I watched three fellows walk from door to door trying to solicit people to examine their roofs for “hail damage.”
I have lived in The Villages for almost 27 years and I honestly can’t recall any situation where we had any hail of any significance at all nor have I heard from anyone in other parts of The Villages who have had this experience.
My personal feeling is that much of the issues that we are seeing are related to greed on the part of The Villages’ property owners. Too often, I hear from these people, “Why not get a new roof for free from my insurance company? I don’t have to pay anything.”
This is extremely shortsighted and selfish because the homeowner may not be paying for the new roof, but you and I are paying for it because the insurance companies are passing premium increases on two you and and I. The overwhelming majority of the homes that were built in the areas north of State Road 44 were built with asphalt roofs with a minimum 20-year warranty.
Many of these phony and unnecessary replacements that we are seeing are borderline fraudulent because the damage that the roofs have sustained is not because of hail. It’s because the roof is starting to experience a little “normal wear” after five to 10 years. It doesn’t necessarily mean that all the roof needs to be replaced, but the greedy homeowner is doing the best they can to take advantage of the “free insurance replacement.”
Haven’t we already learned in life that nothing is free? So if you get a roof replaced or your next-door neighbor gets his roof replaced and your rates go through the ceiling, it’s because of GREED.
I’m not apologizing for what I’m saying here because I believe firmly that what I’m saying is the case. I even had people come up to me and say, “I got a new roof and I didn’t have to pay anything for it.”
We are digging our own hole here, folks.
I honestly don’t believe that Villagers are naive enough to believe that this is NOT going to come back to haunt us in the future.
Comments?
Kenyon Stubbs is a resident of the Village of Sabal Chase.
