I know many Floridians who have had their docks damaged, or in some cases, destroyed, by hurricanes.  In a handful of cases, it happened multiple years in a row!  This can be a sad, frustrating, and often, very expensive situation because generally, homeowner’s insurance does not cover damage to docks during hurricanes. 

I try to use the analogy with policyholders that it’s like why auto insurance doesn’t cover the replacement of the tires on your car.  It’s not “if” you’re going to need new tires, it’s “when” you inevitably need new tires, because you drive your car around on the roads every day.  Having a dock in Florida is similar.  Our docks take such a beating out there and there is very little you can do to protect them when the seemingly inevitable winds blow in our state.  The premiums insurance companies would need to charge in order to cover this risk exposure would be astronomical.  I know, because we quoted a lot of standalone dock policies while they were still available on the market, and we didn’t have a single policyholder purchase one.

Now, there are some insurance companies that “cover docks” under their “other structures” coverage but look closely at the “perils insured against” in the policy contract.  Yes, if it’s struck by lightning or damaged by fire, that would be covered in those situations, and we want our policyholders to have that protection, but we don’t want them missing the exclusion for the most likely thing to damage their dock.

There are some rare exceptions for clients who have boat houses, or other structures on the dock itself, and circumstances where there are multiple perils causing damage, but those are certainly the exception to the rule.

We have learned that the best thing we can do is make this limitation very clear for our policyholders before the winds blow, so they can plan accordingly.

If you would like to get on our list to be kept updates on any new changes or options that become available in the industry to better protect docks, please email info@RicciInsuranceGroup.com & ask to be added to the “Dock Mailing List.”