Non-weather water claims are the most frequent claims paid by Citizens Insurance in South Florida.
Citizens has a sub-limit for non-weather water loss coverage of $10,000. This limit does not apply when the policyholder participates in the Managed Repair Contractor Network Program. Better yet, payments made under their Emergency Water Removal Services endorsement will not be deducted from the $10,000 sub-limit on coverage.
So, if you contact Citizen’s Managed Repair Contractor Network at the first sign of a water claim, the entire claim will be paid even if it exceeds the $10,000 sub-limit!
Citizens also has a Reasonable Emergency Measures (REM) policy requirement. and its broken into two parts: Non-weather related water claims and Other perils insured against.
A sub-limit of $3,000 will apply to measures taken solely to protect your Dwelling, Other Structures and Personal Property from further damage due to Nonweather-water losses. Payments under the $3,000 REM sub-limit are deducted from the $10,000 water loss sub-limit; leaving only $7,000 in water loss coverage.
UNLESS you participate in the Managed Repair Contractor Network Program. If you participate, the $3,000 of Reasonable Emergency Measures is NOT deducted from your sub-limit for water losses. That leaves you with the full $10,000 sub-limit to pay water losses.
Other perils losses will be covered up to the applicable limit of liability on the policy after Reasonable Emergency Measures are taken.
Another change Citizens made was in your Duties After Loss. They now require claimants, other than policyholders, (for example contractors who use Assignment of Benefit contracts) who seek benefits under the policy, to perform certain duties including producing records substantiating the claim and participating in appraisal for dispute resolution. Claimants representatives also must perform these duties when reasonably required by Citizens.
Further, the policyholder must keep a record of expenses for REM and keep a record of Repair expenses for all other measures and repairs. This applies to Dwelling policies and Condo policies too.
Don’t forget that if you use Citizens free Emergency Water Removal Services, there is NO DEDUCTIBLE on these Non-weather related water losses.
So if you use both the Emergency Water Removal Services AND the Managed Repair Contractor Network, at the first sign of water loss, you not only save your Deductible and but increase your Water Sublimit, too.
That’s a WIN WIN situation.
Here’s some scenarios from Citizens on Water Claims:
Water Loss Scenario One
A policyholder calls Citizens first to report their nonweather water loss and has not engaged anyone else for water removal services. They can use their free Emergency Water Removal Services. There’s no deductible.
Water Loss Scenario Two
A policyholder calls their own emergency water removal service and then calls Citizens to report the loss. Coverage for emergency water removal services is limited to a maximum of $3,000, less any applicable deductible. That’s the limit for a nonweather water loss under the base policy.
Water Claim Scenario Three
If permanent repairs are needed for a non-weather water loss, policyholders can access the Managed Repair Contractor Network Program, as long as they have not engaged anyone else to make the permanent repairs. If they use Citizens MRCNP services, there is no $10,000 sub-limit, there’s only the Coverage limit.
Water Claim Scenario Four
If permanent repairs are needed for the nonweather water loss, but the policyholder has engaged someone else to perform the repairs, coverage for permanent repairs is limited to a maximum of $10,000, less any deductible and less any payments for emergency water removal services if they did not use citizens water removal services.
Let’s look at a broken pipe that causes $25,000 in damage to a home. The policyholder calls a water removal service out of the phone book. This service charges $3000 for the water extraction. Citizens will pay $500 if the policyholder has a $2500 deductible. ($3000 – 2500). If the policyholder also hires an outside contractor to do the repairs, there would only be $9500 ($10,000 -$500 left over from deductible) to pay for the rest of the damage. So the policyholder will need to pay the extra $15,500 ($25,000 – $9,500) to the contractor.
If they participated in the Citizens programs, they would have paid only $2500, out of pocket – their deductible for the permanent damage.
$2500 out of pocket versus $18,000 – $2500 deductible plus $15,500 out of pocket for repairs.
I think you’d agree that using Emergency Water Removal Service and Managed Repair Contractor Network Program will save you big bucks when it comes to a non-weather water claim with Citizens Insurance.
Need a quote on Home Insurance? Contact Cronin Insurance Today!
