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SOMETIMES, I’M embarrassed to live in Florida.
Late-night talk show hosts have plenty of fodder for their jokes given the behavior of residents, visitors and our politicians. Fortunately, I don’t know anyone who fits the stereotype of “Florida Man,” but such folks clearly exist, or so these memes suggest.
We also endure hurricanes, scorching summers, soaring homeowner’s insurance rates and all kinds of odd creatures, from the native alligator to invasive species such as the green iguana and the giant African snail.
On the other hand, there’s no state income tax. We also have another advantage that I just learned is rare among the 50 states: free front windshield repair. In Florida, if you carry comprehensive coverage as part of your auto policy, your insurance must pay for a new windshield, with no deductible required.
When I was returning recently from seeing my daughter and her husband in Orlando, a stone hit the far righthand side of my windshield, which wasn’t surprising given the amount of road construction in and around Orlando. It was night, so I didn’t notice the crack until the next day, when I went to wash my car. This had happened to me once before with my previous car, and I recall being pleased I didn’t have to pay anything toward the window’s replacement.
At first the crack was just the size of a spider. But it expanded horizontally across the window, almost reaching the center by the next morning. Clearly, it was a hazard. I called my agent with some trepidation, unsure whether the windshield repair law still existed. Thankfully, it does.
I was curious if other states had this benefit. According to this article, only two other states—South Carolina and Kentucky—also feel it’s a safety initiative important enough to justify this insurance requirement. Those two states apply the rule to all vehicular windshields, while Florida only includes the front.
Is the cost of this supposed freebie already reflected in our auto-insurance rates here in Florida? I’m not savvy about insurance matters, but it seems the insurers always have the upper hand. Still, on two occasions, it hasn’t felt that way to me.
I can’t comment on whether that “free” service is a good idea or not, but there are no free lunches. In CA the legislature has pretty much dictated car insurance costs, so the prices aren’t that bad. Not near as bad as TX. Problem is, since prices can’t rise to actually cover their costs, they’re pulling out of the state. Whoops.
I don’t think that any of the 4 states that I’ve lived in required full glass coverage, but it’s always been the default, you got it unless you specifically declined it. In 50+ years of driving I’ve only had one window cracked. However, in the month or so before I got it replaced, it got cracked or chipped 3 times — in 3 different states.
I’ve had a couple of windshield replacements (in different states) and they were always covered by insurance. However, here’s another piece of insurance trivia. Damage caused by deer hits is also covered by comprehensive insurance policies in most states, and drivers are not penalized for such events. It didn’t used to be so, but there are so many car-deer accidents today that it became clear to insurers that hitting a deer is not a fault-based accident. The estimates vary between 1.5 million and 2.1 million hits each year. But you got us on this one, too. Very few of them occur in Florida.
Midway thru my third decade as a Florida resident, rest assured the Florida Man stereotype is accurate albeit gender-neutral.
For example, we have Confederate battleflag bikinis.
For long-time homeowners, property taxes aren’t burdensome.
We paid less than $2500 last year on a home Zillow “says” is worth 1.4 million.
My insurance in Virginia has always paid for window replacement. I’m sure it’s in the price of the insurance, but it’s not a feature I specifically asked for. I’ve had one company for many years, so I don’t know if others do or not.
We grew up in Florida and still spend 4 or 5 months of the year snow birding there from upstate New York. The weather is great down south in the winter and we enjoy spending time with family and friends there. Car insurance is VERY expensive in pinellas county Florida. Homeowners insurance is a mess and is VERY expensive in Florida too. But still Florida is a great place to spend the winter. Florida man is alive and well there. Recently a retired military man (like myself) in the Florida town of Dunedin nearby unloaded 30+ rounds from his AK-47 at his pool cleaner who showed up unexpectedly in his backyard after dark. Thank goodness no one was hurt. Sometimes I am embarrassed to live in Florida too. Guess I am not embarrassed enough not to go there though.
Ron, Florida is a special place for sure. I always liked Dave Barry’s quip: “I live in Florida. I moved here from the United States.”
I was born and bred in Texas and have lived here 71 years. The only thing that embarrasses me about my state is our elected politicians.
As for free windshield repair, I don’t know what Texas law requires but I know that our auto policy, from Safeco, does provide it. We benefited from that a couple of times in years past, but also learned there was a limit of sorts. If you invoked this provision more than, I think it was 2 times within a certain number of years, the deductible on your policy was significantly increased.
Waking up this morning, in that fog where sometimes a revelation occurs, I realized that Dave Barry’s actual quote was: “I live in Miami. I moved here in 1986 from the United States.” Apologies, Dave.
I love Dave Barry and Carl Hiassen, too. Their commentary on their home state is a big part of the charm in their writing.
As you undoubtedly know, there is no such thing as a free lunch. You and everyone else in Florida who has comprehensive coverage are paying for this feature. And, as windshield replacement costs have increased because of new auto tech being built in to the glass, you can expect your premiums continue to rise. However, this is a small problem when compared to the larger disaster of Florida home insurance.
Thank you. While reading the article I was wondering how far I would have to scroll in the comments to find the underlying truth to their “freebie.” You win!
The other day, I saw someone’s social media post that said to Google “Florida man” and then your birthday. So, something like “Florida man April 15” and see what comes up. People were having fun sharing the headlines that came up for their birthday.
One of my vehicles I keep around is a 30 year old pickup truck. Nice to have when moving large items. About a year ago on a two lane country road, an oncoming car lost control and went slightly off the road spewing rocks and one of them hit my windshield putting a nice quarter size crack in it. It’s still there and I’m waiting for it to get worse before replacing it at my expense.
Even though Florida has no state income tax, their property taxes are very high, as they are in Texas and other no income tax states. I suspect other taxes and fees are high in these states as well (sales, fuel, renewals). I was a CPA for 40 years, and saw this many times. My thought is it takes a certain amount of revenue for a state to operate and provide basic services. Granted, many states provide more benefits, requiring more revenue, which they collect through various taxes and fees. Sadly, more and more people feel “entitled” and politicians love to spend our dollars.
It’s funny the way states poke at each other. The governors of California and Florida, both of whom have national office aspirations, don’t like each other and regularly hurl insults on Twitter at each other’s states. I hear all the time from people who don’t live here about what a “hellhole” California is and how people and businesses are “escaping” it because of state regulations and high income taxes. But our property taxes are a small fraction of what people pay elsewhere (like in Florida or Texas) and we’re not forced to pay for other people’s free windshield replacements, either. So I guess people pick their poison, and there is no free lunch (unless someone wants to sell you a timeshare).
– “[in CA] we’re not forced to pay for other people’s free windshield replacements”
No, but the legislature has done to care insurance companies what they’ve done in some areas if LA with rent control. They’ve suppressed the prices, and now my insurer is not accepting new clients because they have to charge below their cost. Soon I expect they’ll drop current clients like me too.
It’s been awhile, maybe 8 years now, but the company I used to work for had commercial properties in FL. I don’t know about residential RE taxes, but I know the commercial RE taxes were very high in relation to some of the other states we did business that had state income taxes. My son and daughter-in-law live in TX and they pay high RE taxes on their home. These states may tout the “no state income tax”, but they are collecting money from somewhere to provide the services.
I was a Florida Man for my first 35 years, but I never made the headlines. I also benefited from the fee windshield repair, performed by a mobile repairman. But, alas, we both know there is no free lunch. My mother’s rate for both auto and home insurance is high. It seems my state is worse.
I hear the cost of water is very high as well.