How good is Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company? Who do you contact for a price quote? Today I’ll provide you with information about Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company to help you decide if they are the best property insurance company for you.
Visit my site to get price quotes, complaint statistics, and customer service & claims satisfaction ratings for all the leading auto & home insurance companies in the USA. How is your insurance company rated? Does it have a lot of customer complaints? Find out at my home page and CLICK HERE!
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Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company (UPCIC), a subsidiary of Universal Insurance Holding Company, is one of the three largest property insurance companies now selling homeowners insurance in Florida. In late November 2011, UPCIC started selling home insurance in Georgia.
Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company offers property insurance in 5 states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Hawaii, Georgia, & Florida. UPCIC sells renters insurance, dwelling insurance, condo insurance, & home insurance through a network of 4,600 local independent insurance agents. You can find a local agent through the UPCIC website, or by clicking a UPCICÂ ad on this blog post.
It is important for property owners having homes in areas at greater risk for hurricane & storm damage, to know all their insurance company options for insuring their properties, since many insurance companies will not insure in these areas.
For high value residential properties in Florida, Universal Insurance Holdings Company, has a separate subsidiary company, called American Platinum Property & Casualty Insurance Company, for Florida homes needing more than one million dollars of coverage.
Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company has a small market share of the homeowners insurance market nationally, so it is not included in JD Power’s National Homeowners insurance study, and I have not listed information about it on my website.
One concern I have with Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company is there is only one rating agency, Demotech, evaluating the financial strength of the company to be able to pay claims. The leading rating agency for insurance companies, AM Best, does not rate them. Demotech gives UPCIC an “A” rating, per the UPCIC website. You can also find out about the re-insuring agreement UPCIC has with other insurance companies, as a part of its reinsurance program, on the UPCIC website.
Another concern I have with Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company is its history of high homeowners insurance complaint ratios, which I list for you below.
You will have to decide for yourself if Universal Property & Casualty Insurance is right for you. It pays to shop with all the leading insurance companies to save money, but sometimes you don’t get the best price by having your auto & homeowners insurance together. And when it comes to something as important as your home, you want to make sure you are getting the coverage & service you need, too.
Large rate increases for property insurance, particularly for Southern states near the coast, is common with all insurance companies. Per a 1/11/2012 press release from Universal Insurance Holding company, UPCIC received approval for a statewide average increase of 14.9% for Florida homeowners insurance, and 8.8% for Florida dwelling insurance policies, effective for new customers as of 1/9/2012, and policies renewing on or after 2/28/2012.
There are plenty of individual stories on the Internet of problems with claims or service for every insurance company. Yet reading a lot of complaints on the Internet does not inform you if the majority of customers are happy with the insurance company, since they don’t write about it on the Internet.
Even a website full of complaint stories are anecdotal and not statistically significant. You need to look at large numbers to really spot a trend in poor service. This is why I provide the national complaint ratios for insurance companies on my website.
However, number scores may not be simple and easy for people to interpret, even though I explain them on my website.
I devised a letter grade system, based on the complaint ratios, to make it as easy as possible to find the best auto & home insurance companies and avoid the worst insurance companies.
Here are my letter grades:
A+ = Insurance companies with complaints 25% or less than the average insurance company.
A = Insurance companies with complaints 50% or less than the average insurance company.
B = Insurance companies with complaints 90% or less than the average insurance company.
C = Insurance companies with complaints from 90% to 110% of the average insurance company.
D = Insurance companies with complaints from 110% to 200% of the average insurance company.
F = Insurance companies with complaints over 200% of the average insurance company. Over twice as much as average!
Consider these grades, along with price and other factors (as listed on my website), when choosing an insurance company.
Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company’s Homeowners Insurance Complaint Ratings for the Last 3 Years (2011 not available yet)
Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company 2010 Complaint Rating = D (1.77)
Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company 2009 Complaint Rating = D (1.66)
Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company 2008 Complaint Rating = F (2.29)
Now you know the complaint ratings for Universal Property & Casualty Insurance. The next step is to get price quotes. By shopping your auto insurance or homeowners insurance with ALL the leading insurance companies, you can get a great price AND great customer service & claims handling. Use my website to find all the leading insurance companies, evaluate their customer service, and find the best price for you. Click the ad below and start shopping now!
Do you have any experience with Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Or, you can e-mail me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.