Citizens is lacking in certain coverage that Olympus offers like screened enclosures. Their opt out letter says they offer animal liability buy back, scheduled property coverage (i.e. jewelry worth more than what Citizens will cover it for), and special coverage for your personal property (i.e. covered on an open perils basis rather than a named perils basis). I'm not sure if any of that applies to you. You'll want to check with your agent.
Citizens policyholders are also subject to up to a 45% assessment based on your premium in the event of another major hurricane season. We haven't had one in awhile though but you never know. Also, claims handling would probably be a nightmare versus other companies.
The only problem faced is that you won't know what the new company will offer at the renewal. They are supposed to be competitive with Citizens rates but your current Citizens policy may be lower than the current Citizens rates because depending on how long you have been with them you would have been receiving renewal offers with capped rates. For example, Citizens might have taken a 30% increase each year since you've had them, but you only would receive the capped increase of 10%. The problem being that if the new insurer offers you a rate competitive to Citizens current rates and its higher than what you were expecting, you couldn't go back to the capped rates you had before with Citizens.
What I would do is have your agent run a current Citizens quote for you as accurately as he can to your current policy and compare your current capped rate to the Citizens uncapped quote rate. If its similar, it can be safe to go with the Olympus. If Olympus comes back at you with a terrible renewal rate, then you can go back to a similar rate with Citizens. If there is a difference in rate that is too high for you to risk leaving Citizens for, stay with Citizens.
I believe they are supposed to be coming out with a way to tell what potential take-out companies could offer at renewals. Maybe after the new year.
an agent should be able to quote it around with a copy of your declarations page and a copy of your wind mitigation inspection report. Depending on the age of the home they may require an additional inspection.
an agent should be able to quote it around with a copy of your declarations page and a copy of your wind mitigation inspection report. Depending on the age of the home they may require an additional inspection.
