FEMA Launches New Online Flood-Insurance Quote Tool
11/22/24 – FEMA has launched a new, online flood-insurance quote tool. You simply:
- Fill in your address
- Answer a few simple questions about the construction of your home, i.e., “Is it slab on grade?”
- Tell it how much coverage you want
- Select a deductible
- Press a button to get your quote.
The entire process took me less than two minutes. I found that I could get the maximum coverage ($250,000) with the minimum deductible for $887.
How to Act on the Quote
Of course, you don’t buy flood insurance directly from FEMA. You buy it from a flood insurance agent. So before you leave, the tool gives you the option of emailing the FEMA quote to an independent agent through a variety of channels. See below.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Flood Insurance in One Place
This new quote tool is amazingly easy to use. It’s also integrated with other useful information about flooding, ways to reduce your flood risk and obtain insurance. For instance, linked pages contain information about:
Buying a Policy
- Buying a Policy
- Why Buy Flood Insurance
- Am I Required to Have Flood Insurance?
- What’s Covered
- Types of Flood Insurance
- How to Buy Flood Insurance
- Find an Insurance Provider
Renewing a Policy
Flood Risks and Costs
- Flood Risks and Costs
- What Impacts My Premium and Policy Costs?
- Flood Insurance Mitigation Discount Tool
- Climate Change and Risk
- Policy Terms
- How Can I Pay Less?
Before and After a Flood
- Before and After a Flood
- Steps to Prepare for Flooding
- How Do I Start my Flood Claim?
- Document Danage and Start Clean Up
- Disaster Response
- Appeal Your Flood Claim
- Understanding Coverage Decisions
- Reducing Future Flood Damage
Flood Zones and Maps
Each of the links above has additional links that help you drill down through information and explore ways to save. For instance, the page on Elevation Certificates above has a link to a fact sheet on Why First Floor Height is Important?; how you can modify your property to lower insurance costs; and a checklist about “Ways to Protect Your Home and Pay Less.”
Benefits of Tool and Site
I can see many benefits for FEMA’s new flood-insurance tool and its FloodSmart site. It:
- Makes consumers smarter about risk and buying decisions
- Saves buyers’ time
- Saves agents’ time
- Acts as a cross-check against possible mistakes by new agents
- Helps reduce flood risk
- Aids in finding agents who still deal in flood insurance; some companies have pulled out of high-risk states.
- Encourages people to buy flood insurance even when they think they may not need it.
To that last point, note that during Hurricane Harvey, more than 154,000 homes in Harris County alone flooded. Of those, 70,370 were outside of the 1% (100-yr) and .2% (500-yr) floodplains. That’s almost half!
And that’s not all that unusual. One of the FAQs on FEMA’s site points out that “…from 2014 to 2018, policyholders outside of areas required to carry flood insurance filed over 40 percent of all NFIP flood insurance claims.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/22/24
2642 Days since Hurricane Harvey
