Does Florida home insurance cover hurricane damage?

At Zenith Insurance Group, we want you to fully understand how your home insurance helps protect you against financial loss related to your Pinellas County home. Late spring and summer bring hurricane season, but your home insurance protects your home investment against hurricane-strength winds.

Florida Home Policies Cover Hurricanes

Although some states require separate hurricane policies, Florida does not. Although you need flood insurance to cover rising water flood damage, every state in the US follows that federal law regarding flood insurance. Your home policy from our insurance agency protects your home from wind damage and water damage that occurs due to wind damage.

Damage Types Covered

Let’s consider what that means. If high winds tear open your roof, then water enters through that hole, your home insurance covers that water damage. If your home only undergoes rising water flood damage, only flood insurance covers it.

The majority of hurricane damage, including downed trees and limbs, missing shingles, roof damage, siding damage, and lightning damage, home insurance policies in Florida typically cover. The home policy only exempts rising water flood damage.

Request a Policy Review

Make an appointment with Zenith Insurance Group, serving Florida’s Pinellas County, for a home insurance policy review today. Let us help you ensure that your home insurance policy fully covers your home. Perhaps you chose an HO-1 or -2 policy when you first insured your home, but you now want improved perils coverage.

Contact Us Today

Contact us to enhance your coverage to an H0-3 or all perils policy, so you can fully protect your investment in your home against hurricanes and other perils. 

Three things that might surprise you about condo insurance

Condo owners in Pinellas County should be well-informed about condo insurance. If you own a condo, you can rely on Zenith Insurance Group to insure it and protect yourself financially. 

The following are three things that might surprise you about condo insurance:

You might be required to purchase condo insurance.

A lot of condo associations require residents to purchase condo insurance. Condo owners who borrow money to purchase their units are also required to purchase condo insurance by their lender. 

Condo insurance can cover additional living expenses.

Some condo owners don’t realize that their condo insurance policy comes along with additional living expenses coverage. This type of coverage pays for a hotel room or another type of temporary lodging when the policyholder’s unit becomes damaged to the point of being unsafe to live in. 

Your condo insurance needs depend on the master policy of your condo association. 

Condo insurance complements the master policy of the condo association. That’s why it’s important to know what type of master policy your condo unit has when you buy your own individual condo insurance policy.

Master policies at condo facilities can be bare walls, single entity, or modified single entity/all-in policies. If your master policy is a bare walls coverage policy, you need to purchase coverage for all your interior finishes.

On the other hand, you only need to purchase personal property condo insurance if your master policy is a modified single entity/all-in coverage policy that covers everything else for you. 

We Are Here To Help

Protect your condo with a condo insurance policy from Zenith Insurance Group. Get in touch with us online for a quote on a policy for your condo in Pinellas County. 

Insuring Your Classic Car Restoration Project

If you’re a classic car enthusiast in Pinellas County, your restoration project is more than just a hobby – it’s a passion. At Zenith Insurance Group, we share your passion for these unique treasures and understand the specific and challenging insurance needs of your classic car. Proper coverage throughout the restoration process is crucial to protecting your investment and ensuring your peace of mind.

Here are some important things to keep in mind:

Special Considerations for Classic Car Restoration

It’s important to keep in mind the value of your vehicle, which may change during a classic car restoration process. Working with an insurance provider that specializes in classic car insurance can help ensure you have the right coverage in place throughout the entire project.

Coverage Options for Classic Car Restoration

During the restoration process, your car may be partially or completely disassembled, which can create insurance challenges. A comprehensive classic car insurance policy can provide coverage for damage to the car during the restoration process, as well as liability coverage in case someone is injured on your property.

The Importance of Proper Valuation

To ensure you have the right coverage, it’s important to have your classic car professionally appraised before starting the restoration process. This will help you accurately determine the car’s value and ensure you have adequate insurance coverage in place.

Protect Your Classic Car Restoration Project with Zenith Insurance Group

Insuring your classic car restoration project is essential for protecting your investment and ensuring you have the coverage you need throughout the restoration process. Don’t wait until it’s too late – contact us today to discuss your classic car insurance needs in Pinellas County.

What does renters insurance cover?

Renters insurance is an important form of coverage for tenants here in the Pinellas County area who rent their homes or apartments. It can provide financial protection against losses due to theft, fire, and other unexpected events. But what exactly does a policy from us at Zenith Insurance Group cover? 

What does renters insurance cover?

Generally speaking, renters insurance covers three main areas: Personal Property, Liability Coverage, and Additional Living Expenses.

Personal Property coverage compensates tenants for any damage or loss of their personal possessions, such as furniture, electronics, clothing, and more.

Liability Coverage provides protection from lawsuits if someone is injured in your rental home or apartment and you are found legally responsible for the incident.

Finally, Additional Living Expenses covers the cost of alternative housing should your rental property become unlivable due to a covered event. 

Renters insurance also typically includes coverage for Guests’ Property Losses where you are held liable when visitors’ possessions are damaged or stolen while on your premises. Depending on the policy specifics you’ve chosen, there may be additional coverage available as well including pet liability coverage in case your pet causes bodily harm or property damage; identity theft expense coverage; credit card fraud; and more. 

In many ways, renters insurance is like homeowners insurance – except tailored specifically to those renting a home rather than owning it. It’s an essential form of protection that helps give you peace of mind should something happen to your belongings while living in a rental property.

We Can Help!

For more information, or if you want to find a policy that meets your needs and your budget, give us at Zenith Insurance Group a call today. We are proud to serve the Pinellas County area and would be happy to help you.

What You Need to Know about RV Insurance Requirements

With its unlimited scenic vistas, The Sunshine State of Florida is the perfect place to begin your RV adventure. Before hitting the road, you’ll want to ensure everything is in place to keep you, your vehicle, and others on the road as safe as possible.

In Florida, any vehicle you can drive on its own requires insurance. In many ways, the requirements of RV insurance function quite similarly to the insurance required for any other operable vehicle in the state.

Florida requires all motorists to carry liability coverage. The exception arises in the care of towable travel trailers, campers, and fifth wheels, which fall under the liability coverage of the vehicle to which it’s attached. If the RV is only being towed and not driven, insurance is not legally required. Zenith Insurance Group is here to provide Pinellas County RV owners with more information. 

Florida RV Insurance Requirements

Large vehicles like RVs have the potential to cause significant harm in the event of a collision or wreck. There are specific minimum requirements that every registered vehicle in Florida must have:

  • A minimum of $10,000 for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and $10,000 for Property Damage Liability (PDL)
  • Continual coverage, even if the vehicle is inoperable or not being driven
  • A policy from a licensed insurance carrier in Florida
  • Continuous Florida insurance coverage throughout the vehicle’s registration period

Full-time RV insurance is available for people who plan to spend more than 150 nights out of a year living out of their RV. This type of insurance is more of a mix between auto and home insurance. To better understand your RV insurance options, contact our experts at Zenith Insurance Group, serving Pinellas County and surrounding areas.

Four steps to purchasing motorcycle insurance

It’s vitally important to have motorcycle insurance coverage if you ride a motorcycle in Pinellas County. At Zenith Insurance Group, we’re here to help you meet your motorcycle insurance needs.

The following are four steps you should go through when you purchase a motorcycle insurance policy:

Make sure you understand the coverage options that are available to you

You don’t want to purchase motorcycle insurance before you understand different coverage options. When you buy a policy, you can purchase liability, collision, comprehensive, towing and labor, and rental reimbursement coverage. There are numerous additional types of coverage that you might also want to include on your policy. 

Decide which types of coverage you want your policy to include

Consider your unique coverage preferences. You should consider factors like the value of your motorcycle and your budget when deciding what coverage types to include. Remember that you are required by law to carry liability coverage in Oregon. 

Request motorcycle insurance policy quotes from different insurance providers

Whenever you buy any type of insurance, you should be sure to get quotes from a few different companies. This is important because insurance coverage offerings can differ widely among various providers in your area. We offer free quotes to compare from so you can choose the best provider. 

Evaluate the quotes that you get and choose a policy

Carefully look over the details of the quotes you get. When evaluating quotes, consider the value you get from each policy in addition to the premium costs.  Select the policy that is within your budget and best meets your coverage needs. 

Reach Out To Us

When you’ve gone through all these steps, you can insure your motorcycle in Pinellas County. Are you ready to get a policy quote? Contact us at Zenith Insurance Group, and we’ll provide you with a quote on a policy that offers you the coverage you need and want. 

How To Prepare Your Boat For Hurricane Season

At Zenith Insurance Group, we provide boat insurance to residents of Florida. We are here to provide you with tips ahead of the hurricane season for optimal protection of your watercraft. 

How To Prepare Your Boat For Hurricane Season

When Is Hurricane Season In Pinellas County, Florida?

Powerful storms batter the Florida coast every hurricane season, bringing unpredictable weather, strong winds, and heavy rains. The Atlantic Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30, but storms outside this timeframe can occur.

For Pinellas County boaters, taking the proper steps to protect their vessels is critical.

How Can Pinellas County Residents Protect Their Boats?

While hurricanes pose a threat to boats along the Florida coast, there are actions boat owners can take to protect their investment in their boats. 

  • If you can trailer the boat, bring it out of the water and inland as part of an evacuation plan.
  • Remove all loose items from the deck, including small equipment such as outboard motors, sails, and expensive electronics, and store them somewhere safe.
  • Secure and lock all hatches, ports, and windows. 
  • Fully charge all batteries and turn off electronics, except for bilge pumps. 
  • If keeping the boat in the water, add extra dock lines. Give your anchor or dock lines more leeway than usual to accommodate rising waters.
  • Before hurricane season, purchase boat insurance from a reliable agency such as Zenith Insurance Group.

Even after making these preparations, never attempt to ride out a severe storm aboard your boat. These dangerous weather events are unpredictable and intense.

Can Boat Insurance Help? 

Hurricanes are unpredictable, and even the best preparations can fail. Boat insurance through a seasoned, reliable agency such as Zenith Insurance Group will protect your vessel. Ultimately, boat insurance is the best way for boaters to protect their investment from loss during severe weather.

Contact Us Today

If you want to prepare for hurricane season, reach out to the Zenith Insurance Group team today. Our professional agents understand boaters’ needs and will help you understand your coverage options. 

How can an umbrella insurance plan protect me?

People living in the Pinellas County area will need to make sure they are always covered by proper insurance. One type of coverage that all people should get is umbrella insurance. This type of insurance offers liability insurance and can be a good addition to anyone’s personal insurance plan.

This type of insurance can protect you in various ways that can make it a great investment

Offer Protection on Top of Home and Auto Liability Plans

Many people in this area will have some personal liability coverage in their home and auto insurance plans. These policies are designed to offer protection from accidents that can occur on the road or at home. While this can offer helpful coverage, each of these plans will have insurance caps. If you have an umbrella insurance plan, it will give additional coverage on top of your existing plans, which is helpful if you are named liable for a major claim. 

Cover Unique Risks

It can also be a good idea to get this insurance to cover unique risks. There are many liability risks that are not covered by standard auto or home insurance plans. To ensure that you are protected against these risks, having an umbrella insurance plan is helpful as it offers blanket coverage for practically any liability risk. 

Contact Us Today

If you live in the Pinellas County area, it would be a very good idea to get umbrella insurance. This is a beneficial type of insurance that will provide you with blanket insurance protection against liability risks. If you are looking for coverage in this region, it would be helpful to call the team from the Zenith Insurance Group. The professionals with the Zenith Insurance Group will offer the support that you need to understand all of your options. 

How Do I Know if I Need Flood Insurance?

Flood insurance is an important type of coverage that will be offered separately from your home insurance policy. For this reason, you must carefully evaluate your location’s propensity to flood, and Zenith Insurance Group can help you with this determination. 

How Do I Know if I Need Flood Insurance?

Pinellas County homeowners are not required by law to obtain flood insurance, but a mortgage lender will compel you to purchase this protection if you live in a moderate to a high-risk area, especially if they are backed by the government. 

FEMA produces a flood map that will show you the topography of your area and is updated every few years to keep up with changes in climate, new housing developments, and differences in the landscape. 

This resource has data on the projected frequency of flooding, its severity, and potential elevations. Historical flooding is very important information to consider, as even a small chance of flooding can prove significant when that event is typically catastrophic. 

Identifying flood planes is vital, as this isn’t always obvious just from visual observation. You may live in a low-lying region that is prone to wet weather streams, or you may be at the bottom of a hill on a city street that does not have adequate drainage.

There may be culverts and ditches that overflow onto your property during heavy rains, or you may live near a river or stream. Gullies can fill past capacity, creating dangerous conditions that lead to flash flooding. 

Put Zenith Insurance Group to Work for You 

Pinellas County residents can count on us to meet their insurance needs, and we will do everything possible to properly insure you. Reach out to us by phone, send us an email, or stop at our office, and we can discuss your situation in more detail. 

Auto insurance add-ons you may want to consider

A  basic auto insurance policy is liability coverage. To make it all-inclusive, you need to add collision and comprehensive coverage, but there are additional add-ons that can make your auto policy even more inclusive. At Zenith Insurance Group in Pinellas County, we provide personalized service to our customers and make sure that you get the right policy at the best value. 

Auto Insurance Add-ons

Gap coverage

When you have a new car, it loses value as soon as you drive it away from the dealership. If you have an accident that totals your vehicle your insurer will provide you with the current value. That value may be less than what you owe on your car loan. Gap coverage makes sure that you have enough money from your insurance to do that. 

Roadside assistance

This is basically the same coverage that you get from your auto club membership at a lower price. It will get help for you in the event of a breakdown, tow your vehicle and even help you get into your vehicle if you are locked out. 

Rental car reimbursement

When your vehicle is damaged in an auto accident you may not have access to it for a while as it gets repaired. This coverage gets you a rental car so that you will have a vehicle to get to work and carry out your normal activities of daily life. 

Full glass coverage

If you have comprehensive coverage, you have some glass coverage, but you must pay your deductible. With full glass coverage, you will not have to pay a deductible, and it is a very reasonable price. It allows you to call just about any glass replacement company, and they will even come to you. 

Get The Right Policy Today

Contact Zenith Insurance Group in Pinellas County for assistance with your auto insurance needs.