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Lawmakers probe shortage of mobile-home insurance along Jersey shore; commissioner points to surplus lines and FAIR Plan
Summary
Senators raised constituent complaints that mobile and manufactured homeowners in Cape May County and shoreline communities cannot obtain property insurance; Commissioner Justin Zimmerman said the market is a specialty line, roughly 23,000 policies exist statewide, and suggested surplus lines and the New Jersey FAIR Plan as options while regulators investigate carrier decisions.
Senators told the Budget Committee that constituents who own mobile or manufactured homes in Cape May County and elsewhere along the Jersey shore are facing a growing difficulty obtaining property insurance. They described cases in which existing policies were terminated and few carriers were willing to issue new policies in those areas.
Commissioner Justin Zimmerman said the mobile-home market is a specialty segment that several carriers write but that market hardening has occurred in other states and is being monitored in New Jersey. He said the department is aware of about 23,000 mobile-home policies statewide and recommended surplus-lines carriers and the New Jersey FAIR Plan as potential options for consumers who cannot place coverage in the admitted market.
"It's something that there are other options such as surplus lines and the New Jersey Fair Plan that we can look towards together," Zimmerman said, adding he would follow up on specific constituent cases referred to the department.
Senators asked whether coastal exposure, flood risk and other market forces were driving carrier exits and whether executive actions or state policies contributed; Zimmerman said carriers often pull out for market-wide reasons and that the department has not heard specific carrier statements blaming state action.
The committee did not take any formal action; senators and staff said they would continue to pursue constituent cases with the department.
