Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key gets insurance update from Sandra Smith

Smith, who runs Secur-All Insurance on the island, stopped by for an update on the industry.

By Nat Kaemmerer
| 3:17 p.m. October 25, 2021

Longboat Key
Neighbors

Hearing about the upward trend of insurance premiums is a little better over a good breakfast. The Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key met Oct. 21 for a breakfast meeting and presentation by insurance agent Sandra Smith from Secur-All.

In the tight Florida market, Smith said premiums are higher than ever and on the coast, the condition of water heaters, cast iron pipes and roofs are driving them up further, she said. Insurance guidelines have changed, especially on roofs, so that tile roofs now are good for about 20 years instead of 30 or 40 and shingle roofs are good for about 10-15 years. As a result, there have been a lot of re-roofing projects going on lately. Essentially, Smith said, this is to help lower the premium rates with insurance carriers.

Lawn Party presses on

With about a month and a half to go until the Lawn Party, the club has made significant moves in its fundraising and planning. As of Oct. 22, the site for the party is confirmed to be the large Town Center Green area for the Dec. 4 event.

The club also surpassed its sponsorship funding goal with the addition of $15,000 Platinum sponsor Chuck Whittall, $10,000 Gold sponsor Mayor Ken Schneier and wife, Cynthia Craig, $5,000 Silver sponsor Bob Roskamp representing the Sarasota Bay Club and $2,000 Bronze sponsor Michael Millard with Mic Insurance. In total, the sponsorships have brought in $52,000 so far.

“We’ve never even been close to this,” club President Michael Garey said.

The next goal, Garey said, is to get restaurants added to the list of a dozen they’ve already gotten agreements from, and sell raffle tickets and patron tables.

“I've seen numbers that I've never seen before and it keeps me very busy,” Smith said. “I have to shop, I have to see what I can do … You can't go to bat. It's either you come to the plate with a conforming home that meets their guidelines, or you don't fit.”

Smith said she always recommends getting fresh eyes on your policies to make sure a useless or underperforming insurance policy doesn’t keep getting renewed indefinitely. If something happens, go to your insurance agent before going to your carrier so they can assess what’s going on and help you make the least damaging claim.

Her biggest claims actually come from condos, because residents think the association has something covered and they don’t. Water backup and mold are huge issues that cost tons of money, so Smith recommends getting the maximum coverage limits on those.

“No matter how pretty the package is on the outside, nobody knows what the integrity of the inside is and how well it's been maintained with salt water and cast iron ore pipes … There's things that we can forecast,” Smith said. “We can say, ‘This is what you have now, here's how we can improve, it may cost you money, but if you save this money every single year, you're going to recoup that in the long run.’”

Smith has operated Secur-All on Longboat Key for about 12 years. It’s an office of her father’s business in New York and Smith works with part-time residents with other properties to insure clients all over the country. She said she enjoys being in the insurance business because she likes to solve problems and support the community. Throughout her years on Longboat Key, she’s gotten involved in local organizations and philanthropy, including annual sponsorships at the Lawn Party.