Hello Landman,
Reading your question, my first gut response was Lloyds of London.
But of course I went to do the research to find other sources. Here's
a good site that explains the basics of flood insurance:
http://www.insure.com/home/flood/
You'll note that it mentions certain flood prone areas that are
excluded from government flood programs due to wildlife preservation.
I understand reading your question that your area is not covered under
government programs.
I then went to this page for phone numbers and contact information
specifically related to flood insurance:
http://www.insure.com/home/flood/info.html
I called the number listed, Consumer Hotline at (800) 427-4661.
Amazingly enough, my call was answered promptly with a real live
person on Sunday! She explained that many cities and communities
participate in flood insurance, so the first place to start is to ask
your local governments about flood programs in which they participate.
The procedure is then pretty standard, with rates fixed by the
government, as explained on the first web link I provided. Reading
your question, I imagine you have done this and found that you cannot
be covered by the standard programs? I asked her how to insure if the
community and the city do not participate in flood insurance programs.
She said...Lloyds of London. They did not maintain a list of
non-participating insurers, so I was not able to get any other names
there.
Here is how to purchase insurance from Lloyds. I started at their
main web site, then went to the US section:
http://www.lloydsoflondon.co.uk/america/index.htm#
Accept the terms of use from the pop up boxes and continue.
Select the "Insuring at Lloyds" button. This page explains the
prodecure for purchasing insurance from them. They suggest contacting
one of their brokers through your regular insurance agent. They also
have a link to a broker directory here:
http://www.napslo.org/content/Membership/UnderwritingManagers/um724.html
There are no listings in SC, but one listing in NC, William Reynolds,
Strickland Insurance Group in Goldsboro, (919) 759-3244. I would
think someone near you geographically would be more familiar with
coastline issues. I checked the number, and it's valid.
Here is a basic document "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About
South Carolina's Homeowner's Insurance". The useful section is on
page 4, "What to do if you cannot purchase homeowner's insurance".
The paragraph entitled "Excess and Surplus Lines" explains the
insurance process for instances when standard insurance is not
available. If mentions that the usual safeguards the state has in
place to guarantee payment do not apply to excess and surplus
insurers. This would lead me to stay with a major company with a long
history, and to watch it's financial health via a business analysis
and rating service.
http://www.state.sc.us/doi/HomeownersConsolidated.pdf
I also found an outstanding listing of specialty lines insurance
carriers:
http://www.roughnotes.com/rnmag/october01/10p118.htm
If you use your computer's page search function (usually Ctrl+F), look
for "flood" on that page. You will find an agent for Zurich North
America, a well known major insurer. Another agent specifically lists
as writing policies for Lloyds.
Doing the searches, I've concluded that it's possible to insure
against just about ANYTHING!
Search words used:
flood insurance
SC flood insurance
insurance brokers
Barclays insurance North America
Lloyds of London
Lloyds of London flood
etc
etc
etc
There was no magic bullet for the searches.
Hope your home you are well on your way to protecting your home.
Regards,
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