National Impaired Driving Prevention Month

by barefootins | Dec 21, 2022 | Personal Insurance

In the month of December, a handful of organizations have banded together to bring social awareness to impaired driving in the United States. The organizations that have deemed this month: “National Impaired Driving Prevention Month”

The Organizations involved in this alliance include:

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy
U.S. Department of Health
Human Service’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

More vehicular related deaths occur during the holiday season than any other time of year making it the clear choice that December was chosen as the awareness month to prevent impaired driving on American roadways and especially within the State of Florida.

Drunk driving, one of many possible impairments while behind the wheel of a car, contributes to a third of traffic fatalities. According to data collected in 2018, the last week of the year drunk driving fatalities increased to half of all traffic fatalities in the United States and almost laterally to the statistics in the State of Florida.

In 2021 there were over 10,000 deaths due to impaired driving across the United States; out of those 799 deaths occurred on Florida roadways.

The most dangerous cities on Florida Roadways are two of our top travel destinations: Orlando and Daytona. In 2016 Orlando was ranked as the 6th most dangerous city in Florida and Daytona ranked the 9th, according to data published by FLHSMV.

If you’re caught, or worse, involved in an accident while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in Florida you are subject to some strict penalties including fines, fees and possible jail time. You’re also, as always, responsible for your third-party Bodily Injury Liability that could arise from an incident on a Florida roadway which could directly translate to a lawsuit. The average amount spent on the costs associated with a DWI/DUI in the State of Florida in 2022 is $14,000 for one driver caught driving under the influence without considering the possibility of an injury or accident.

In addition to the costs, your license would most likely become suspended or revoked and you’d end up needing to take specific advanced driver education within Florida and be forced to carry a Florida FR44 for 3 years from the date of the conviction.

What is a Florida FR-44?

An FR-44 certificate is a notice to the State of Florida’s FLHSMV that you’ve obtained the proper coverage to be legal to drive on the roadways, with insurance supervision from the state officials. The FR44 is a requirement for people with severe driving offences, such as a DUI/DWI conviction occuring on a Florida roadway. An FR-44 requires higher liability coverage than a SR-22 which is only a $10,000 per person liability requirement to the Florida DMV or FLHSMV. The cost range is typically $600-$2000 every 6 months for a non-owner policy (like if you need the Florida FR-44 Filing but you don’t own a vehicle) and can range in cost between $700-5000 (sometimes more if your car needs physical damage coverage) every 6 months for the required $100,000 per person liability on the Florida FR44 as a vehicle owner. If your license has been suspended and you then become convicted of a DWI in Florida, an FR44 certificate is required in order to reinstate your license and must be maintained continuously without lapse for 3 years.

In the month of December you can display a blue ribbon to bring awareness to impaired driving on the Florida roadways.

Are you interested in more information on how to prevent impaired driving and what you can do as a consumer and citizens?

Do you need assistance with your Florida FR-44 Insurance filing? If you’re in the market for new FR44 quotes, rates, a new policy or information, call 321-218-3880, extension 6 to speak with Allie Horblitt.

Allie Horblitt, Insurance Agent with Barefoot Insurance Brokers, works out of both the South Florida and Central Florida offices and can write Florida FR44 Insurance across the state, but specializing in Car insurance coverage in Duval County, Nassau County, Jacksonville, St Johns County, St Augustine, Yulee, all through the Space Coast and the Greater Tampa Area.

Personal Property Inventory List: “The Importance and how to create a Schedule of Property”

by barefootins | Dec 15, 2022 | Personal Insurance

Barefoot Insurance Broker Laurel Schwartz is ready to assist with your Owner and Non-owner Florida SR22

Why Do You Need an SR-22 Insurance Policy in Florida?

If you’ve been told you need an SR-22 in Florida, you may be feeling confused or overwhelmed—but you’re not alone, and help is available. At Barefoot Insurance Brokers, we specialize in assisting drivers across Broward County with obtaining affordable SR-22 insurance, even in complex or high-risk situations.

What Is an SR-22?

An SR-22 is a certificate filed by your insurance company with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) to prove that you carry the minimum required auto liability coverage. It’s often required to reinstate a suspended or revoked license and is a common part of the process for drivers with past violations.

Common Reasons You Might Be Required to File an SR-22:

DUI or DWI conviction
Driving without insurance
Multiple traffic violations or reckless driving
License suspension due to unpaid tickets or child support
Involvement in an accident while uninsured
Reinstating your license after a lapse in coverage

Whether you own a vehicle or not, you’ll need the right type of SR-22:

Owner SR-22: For those who own a car.
Non-Owner SR-22: For drivers without a car who still need to maintain legal driving status.

Affordable SR-22 Insurance Carriers

Many standard insurers won’t provide SR-22 filings, or they charge hefty premiums. Fortunately, Barefoot Insurance Brokers works with trusted, competitive carriers known for their willingness to work with high-risk drivers:

Progressive
Dairyland
GAINSCO
United Automobile Insurance Company

These companies offer flexible and cost-effective SR-22 policies, making them ideal for drivers looking to meet state requirements without overpaying.

Serving Broward County Drivers with Experience and Care

If you’re located in Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes, Tamarac, Wilton Manors, or Hollywood, Laurel Schwartz is your go-to agent for fast, reliable SR-22 quotes. With years of experience helping Florida drivers navigate tough insurance situations, Laurel will walk you through the process and make sure your filing is completed correctly and quickly.

📞 Call Laurel Schwartz today at 954-368-0060, ext. 9
📧 Or email laurel@barefootins.com to request your Owner or Non-Owner SR-22 insurance quote.

At Barefoot Insurance Brokers, we help Florida drivers get back on the road—with confidence and compliance.

Navigating the waters of your property insurance in Florida can be a daunting task. While having a personal property inventory is one step of the process, it’s also helpful to have a trusted insurance advisor to discuss coverages, deductibles, sublimits and additional insurance products that can “fill your gaps” and make you whole in the event of an insurance loss.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to Barefoot Insurance Brokers of Titusville today for quotes and information to secure your Florida Home, your property inside and outside of your home and your Central Florida Business. Call us at 321-218-3880 or email allie@barefootins.com for more information today. Allie Horblitt is a licensed insurance agent in Florida with over 10 years of industry experience who would love to help you with your new Titusville, Mims, Cocoa, Viera, Melbourne and Cocoa Beach Homeowner’s Insurance.

Florida Homeowner’s Insurance: Policy Navigation, Sub-limits & more!

by barefootins | Dec 8, 2022 | Personal Insurance

The average single-family homeowner in Florida carries an HO-3 form of homeowner’s insurance that covers an array of different loss scenarios and coverages at various limits to cover both repairs and rebuilds your home and replace your personal property in the event of a loss. Most legitimate Florida Homeowner’s insurance claims submitted are due to internal water damage within the home–most carriers are now offering a sublimit or option to exclude this coverage now due to the risk— but other covered events under this policy form include:

Theft
Fire Damage
Windstorm events like rain, tornadoes and fallen trees
Airplane crash incidents

If you are financing your home, most mortgage lenders require a HO-3 homeowners’ insurance policy as part of the terms of lending.

Unlike your car insurance policy that might renew every 6 months, homeowner’s insurance terms typically renew on an annual basis every 12 months.

When applying for homeowner’s insurance quotes with an independent insurance agent, there are some insurance inspections you’ll want to consider obtaining prior to the quoting process. These include:

Wind Mitigation Inspection– This is a visual examination of the condition of your roof and how it was constructed as well as other mitigating features that offer “discounts” on your Florida homeowner’s insurance premiums.
4 point inspection- Typically required on homes over 40 years or with updates from original, The “4 points” being inspected are: The roof, plumbing, HVAC system, and Electrical systems within the home and it surveys their condition and age for the insurer to assess whether they’re interested in providing coverage on any particular property. While these inspections can remain valid with the same insurer for your renewals for quite a while, the new Florida criteria is that this inspection is typically considered valid for 1 year on new business.

Every HO-3 Homeowner’s insurance policy in Florida is comprised of more than one coverage. Section I includes coverage for the building, secondary structures (if included) or insured property, Section II has details on Liability Coverages extended to the insured property and the last section is can include additional coverages both optional and included like a Loss of use feature or Ordinance and Law Increase or a higher mold coverage sublimit, depending on the options and value added benefits of the insurer.

Let’s break these coverages down a bit more:

Section one of the policy is designed to insure the value of your Dwelling (helps pay to repair or rebuild the physical structure if damaged by a covered hazard), Other Structures (protects structures on your property that are not connected to your home), Personal Property (helps cover the cost of your personal items if destroyed, damaged, or stolen due to a covered loss), and Loss of Use (can help pay for reasonable housing and living expenses in the event your home is temporarily unlivable while being repaired).

Section II will typically outline the Property Liability Insurance Coverage (when someone claims you or your negligence caused the injury or property damage) and medical payments (to others, not residents) in the event that there is an accident on your property.

Sub-limits primarily impact certain kinds of personal property coverage or specific losses covered under your Florida homeowner’s insurance policy. A sublimit is the most money a carrier will reimburse you for a covered loss, sometimes subject to the deductible but always subject to the terms of the individual policy contract. Some typical examples of sublimits include:

Computers: $1500
Fine Art: $2500
Firearms: $2000
Jewelry: $1000 to $5000

Now that we have a better understanding of some of our Florida Homeowner’s insurance policy elements, lets discuss what’s going on in news about our current coverage and the future of our insurance coverage in Florida!

Florida is in the midst of a homeowner’s insurance crisis. Our current state Statutes so haphazardly dictate the business practices of insurance carriers creating an increase in cost, a decrease in product availability and the likelihood of our State-Backed Residual insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, increasing prices to reduce demand for their product. In the coming week there will be a special session in regards to homeowners insurance amongst the State of Florida Lawmakers. As of Thursday morning there were no specific bills that had been filed just yet.

Previously Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (CPIC) has been a hot topic. CPIC was designed to be the insurer of last resort within the State of Florida and they were rarely synonymous for offering the lowest premiums in the marketplace.

Some officials are stating that if Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was to raise their premiums it would level out the market and create more flow to private insurers.

Private companies in today’s Florida Property Insurance market are an average of 44% higher in price than CPIC at this moment in time. Many Florida Homeowner’s insurance companies won’t even offer coverage on coastal homes in densely populated areas of Miami, Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and Coastal Palm Beach County. Our Coastal Florida residents often have no options outside of CPIC for coverage and the increase in their costs of over 44% could further damage the state of the Market if not repealed by the Citizens of Florida this will affect.

The special session convenes Monday, December 12th, 2022. To make your voice heard we have listed numbers to call and emails to message as published by FAIA, Florida Association of Independent Agents:

Governor Ron DeSantis

(850) 717-9337 or GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com

Speaker of the House Paul Renner

(850) 717-5019 or Paul.Renner@myfloridahouse.gov

President of the Florida Senate Kathleen Passidomo

(239) 417-6205 or passidomo.kathleen.web@flsenate.gov

Please review the FAIA points of contention for the special session, attached.

Barefoot Insurance Brokers are dedicated to helping our fellow Floridians insure your Coastal Florida Property and securing coverage as efficiently and cost effectively as possible. If you feel that your private market premiums or your CPIC premiums are out of hand and you’re looking for ways to insurer within budget, please feel free to reach out to one of our licensed, Florida Insurance agents for Homeowner’s insurance quotes all over Florida and in high-risk places in Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Hallendale, Florida.

Barefoot Insurance Brokers offer an array of other products that would protect the average Florida Coastal Homeowner, too, including Flood Insurance, Inland Marine and Personal Article Floaters, Comprehensive auto insurance policies and Hurricane Protection Plans. Call today at 954-368-0060

Holiday Shopping & Comprehensive Insurance

by barefootins | Dec 6, 2022 | Personal Insurance

The winter holidays are here and our shopping has commenced! While gift shopping for your loved ones this winter season, your Insurance agent at Barefoot Insurance Brokers wants to make sure to take extra precautions to protect your valuables and yourself from all of the perils of the holiday season.

Some safety tips to keep in mind this holiday season are:

– Keep your shopping bags out of plain sight and in your trunk if possible. Take the “out of sight, out of mind” approach to protecting your holiday purchases and keep thieves from breaking into your car in crowded parking lots. Did you know that your comprehensive insurance on your Florida auto insurance policy doesn’t cover the cost of replacement for your side windows if broken, unless you exceed your deductible amount?

– Lock your vehicle. Locking your car can prevent unnecessary theft of your vehicle and it’s contents during the shopping rush. Many criminals will walk through rows of cars in shopping mall parking lots checking door handles to steal your belongings without forceful entry.

– Park your vehicle in well-lit areas. The more well-lit the parking lot is while shopping at night, the more you’d deter unwanted entrance in your vehicle or even people approaching you while you’re in public.

– Have your keys in hand when approaching your car. Many victims of theft aren’t paying attention to their surroundings. Your prospectus in a parking lot should be to enter your vehicle and safely pull away as quickly as possible and not to loiter around. You don’t want to attract any unnecessary attention when you exit a store alone with expensive merchandise.

When and if an incident does happen, it’s important to know that there are car insurance coverages that protect and help ease the financial burden of a loss. Comprehensive auto insurance coverage is an optional coverage on your Florida auto insurance policy that protects you against non-collision damage to your vehicle: theft, vandalism, glass (exceeding the deductible) and windshield damage, weather related damages and other acts of nature. Your comprehensive auto insurance can be included on your existing state required PIP and Property Damage Liability coverage and you likely carry this portion of physical damage coverage if you’re currently financing or leasing your vehicle. In the State of Florida when you have comprehensive insurance coverage and your windshield has a crack, your insurance will cover a replacement, unlike your side windows and rear windshield that may be subject to your deductible.

In the event of theft of your personal belongings or purchased merchandise from your vehicle, your existing renter’s insurance, Florida Condo Insurance or homeowner’s insurance could couple with the auto insurance company to provide financial relief. Comprehensive will cover components and features that are permanent in your car but not the merchandise.

Your major credit card company like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover may also have sublimits within the user agreement that help to reimburse you for expenses or costs related to lost or stolen merchandise. If you’re a victim of a burglary related crime in Florida this holiday season, you may have several options available to recuperate the expenses related to your circumstance.

A licensed insurance broker with Barefoot Insurance Brokers of Florida can better help you understand what’s covered on your existing auto insurance as well as help you find more affordable and efficient insurance products. We recommend that you reach out to Julia Dourvetakis via call or text at 954-866-5723 this holiday season for helpful insurance insight, advice and quotes to protect you and your loved ones.

Julia Dourvetakis can service your property insurance needs across the State of Florida with a focus on the coastal regions of Central and South Florida including Titusville, Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach and Indialantic Florida and an emphasis on high-risk regions in Palm Beach, Broward, Dade and Monroe Counties.