roofing scams put Florida property insurance on verge of collapse (right before hurricane season)
Florida lawmakers scramble to fix a property insurance crisis before hurricane seasonRoofing scams targeting insurance companies are leading to higher bills and fewer options for homeowners, officials say.
An avalanche of lawsuits fueled by roofing scams has plunged Florida into a property insurance crisis that has forced dozens of companies to shut their doors, drop customers, raise rates or flee the state. It’s a slow-motion collapse that lawmakers have known about for years but have failed to fix.
The mess has made it harder for people to protect their homes in a state that is frequently battered by high winds, hard rains and hail and is increasingly vulnerable to climate change. Things could get worse if the state is hit by a major hurricane, which hasn’t happened since 2018, experts say.
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The scam works like this: Contractors knock on doors offering to inspect homeowners’ roofs for storm damage. They say they can help get a roof replacement covered by insurance, and they persuade the homeowners to sign away their rights to file the claims themselves. The contractors then file fraudulent damage claims, and when the insurance companies balk, the contractors sue.
The insurance companies usually settle the disputed claims for many times more than the original claim. Most of that money goes to the contractors’ lawyers in the form of a “contingency fee multiplier.” Some lawyers file hundreds of such lawsuits a year.
The homeowner may get a free roof, but everyone pays for it through increased rates.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/roofing-scams-florida-property-insurance-hurricane-rcna29649
Eight insurance companies operating in Florida have gone out of business since 2021, including three in the past three months. Those that remain have sought rate increases ranging from 15 percent to 96 percent and have become more selective about who they will cover; some are asking homeowners to replace their roof in order to get a new policy. Others are dropping customers; one company recently announced that it was canceling 56,000 policies.
= new reply since forum marked as read
...and it's about 19 years old. Yes, it's a scam. Of course it's had to feel sorry for the insurance companies here. They are making guaranteed profits.
Last edited Mon May 23, 2022, 12:15 PM - Edit history (1)
that when we moved here in the 70s there were scams about gypsies coating driveways with left over products from a job they did down the street.
I never met anyone that had their driveways coated with left over product from a job they did down the street. Weird?
Working in construction the previous 45 years I've seen door hangers for companies but never "contractors" offering to get on a roof.
where the hell are they doing this stuff at?
I believe it's a matter of the mortgage holder/insurance company colluding but I might be mistaken. Imagine this: you're sitting there watching the teevee machine and you get a knock on the door. Lo and behold it's some guy in a golf shirt with a gold chain around his neck that says; "We're working on your neighbors car down the way and we'd like to take a ride around the block in your car to make sure you don't have the same problem, but if you do, sign this paper and we'll get you a new car lickety-split without a dime out of pocket".
Or are they (the insurance companies) smarter than that? 
Seriously, there are enough folks on DU that live in Florida, any of you ever met someone that did this crap?
