Heritage Insurance Review & Complaints: Home, Condo, Dwelling Fire & Commercial Insurance (2023)

One of Florida’s newest insurance companies, Heritage Insurance is a local property & casualty insurer offering a basic lineup of home insurance products.

How long has Heritage Insurance been in business? Heritage Insurance has been in business since 2012, along with several other new insurance companies, in response to changes in the Florida insurance market that followed several major hurricanes.

As larger insurance companies backed out of the market, many homegrown companies moved in to fill the void, especially as the market started to improve – among them was Heritage.

Who owns Heritage? In 2013, Heritage made a deal with Citizens to take over 60,000 policies as part of the takeout plan designed to reduce the policy load on the state’s last-resort insurer.

As part of the Citizens takeout program, Heritage quickly increased its numbers in 2013, and continues to grow and build a reputation in a changing insurance scene.

The deal raised some controversy over the large payout to Heritage for taking over the policies and the speed with which the deal was pushed through. This takeout involved many insurance companies, often new ones, and the insured could choose whether to move to one of the new insurance companies.

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What insurance products are offered?

Heritage writes only property & casualty policies, including several types of homeowner’s insurance and commercial residential policies. The company headquarters is in Clearwater, Florida, and they write policies across the state. Policies are sold through a network of independent agents. The company does not offer auto insurance.

The focus of the Heritage Insurance lineup is homeowner’s, and they write various forms designed to cover multiple types of dwellings.

Homeowner’s Insurance (HO3)

Heritage writes standard HO3 homeowner’s insurance package policies, designed for attached or detached single-family homes. These policies cover replacement cost for the home itself, personal property insurance, and personal liability coverage. Options available include:

• Replacement cost coverage for personal property
• High-value item riders for jewelry, art, and more
• Dog Liability
• Identity Theft Coverage
• Personal Injury Protection

Condominium Insurance (HO6)

Heritage writes policies for condo owners that are designed with the specific needs of condos in mind. This coverage includes:

• Personal liability
• Personal property with available replacement cost coverage
• Coverage for permanently attached parts of the structure from the walls in
• Loss assessment coverage
• Options to add dog liability identity theft, and more

Dwelling Fire (DP3)

Heritage writes DP3 policies to cover homes that are not owner-occupied such as rental houses, duplexes, and townhouses. These policies cover the structure and liability first and foremost, with added coverage for landlords that include loss of rent. Because these are for non-owner-occupied homes, they have limited personal property coverage.

Commercial Residential

Heritage writes policies to cover a variety of multiple-dwelling residences, including:

• Apartment complexes
• Retirement and assisted living homes
• Homeowner’s Associations
• Condo Owner’s Associations

This coverage is designed for the specific needs of multi-unit buildings, including structure coverage and liability.

Are the insurer’s rates reasonable?

Heritage does not provide the option for online quoting, although there is an online form that allows you to request a quote, but it does not return instant results – rather you will be contacted via phone or email with the quote information.

Quotes are also available by contacting an agent directly. This makes it more difficult to compare the rates to other insurance companies, but is not uncommon for property & casualty insurers of this size.

Heritage is a small insurer with a somewhat specific market, so they are unlikely to compete well with large insurance companies. They may, however, be competitive with similar insurance companies – small, Florida-based companies.

Since they write only property insurance, there is no option to obtain multi-policy discounts with Heritage, something that is likely to make their premiums appear a little higher in price. Additionally, they are sold through agents, which means commissions can raise prices as well.

How are Heritage Insurance claims processed?

Heritage customers can report claims, or get claims status, by calling a 24-hour toll-free claim reporting line.

The Heritage Insurance phone number to report claims is 1-855-415-7120, where a customer service representative from the claims department will take the claim information over the phone and get the claim started.

To submit a claim by mail, the claims address is:

Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance
Attn. AOB Department
2600 McCormick Dr. Suite 300
Clearwater FL, 33759

Heritage also offers the Platinum Preferred Savings Program, a free membership program that comes with several perks, including:

• 10% off the deductible in a claim
• 24/7 Concierge service
• A 3-year warranty on all work performed by the Contracted Alliance Network
• No upfront deductible payments

There is little information on the claims process available, other than what is given regarding the Platinum program procedures.

Are there any consumer complaints about the company?

Heritage reviews are limited. As a very new insurance company, Heritage has not had much time to build a reputation, and there is not a large amount of feedback available from customers in general.

If you need to reach Heritage Insurance customer service, you can call 1-855-620-9978 to speak to a representative.

Although the company is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), they currently hold an A+ rating on the site. There have been a total of 28 complaints in the last three years, eight of which have been closed in the past 12 months.

There are currently no rankings or ratings listed with J.D. Power for customer satisfaction or any financial stability ratings through AM Best The complaint index through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) for homeowners insurance lists Heritage Property & Casualty as receiving a .78 index.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation offers a company complaints database that compiles the number of complaints against insurance companies on a yearly basis. The most recent data available is the complaints listed in the fourth quarter of 2016. During this time, Heritage had 67 complaints in total, a ratio of 1:3555. That means that there was one complaint for every 3555 policies in force that year.

In spite of the concern over the Citizens takeout policy transfer mentioned earlier in this review, there doesn’t seem to be much of concern when it comes to the company’s reputation.

What is the company’s financial strength rating?

In our search for financial stability ratings, no information was available from A.M. Best, Fitch, S&P, or any of the other insurance rating companies

What’s the bottom line?

Heritage Insurance is a very new company, but so far seems to be holding a relatively good reputation in the Florida insurance market. They are likely to be worth investigating for anyone who is part of the Citizens takeout or for anyone who has had trouble finding coverage with national-level insurers.

As a local insurer, they are unlikely to provide rates that can compete with bigger companies, especially because they have no multi-policy discounts to offer, but for those who are considering the smaller, local insurance company market, Heritage is worth a look.

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