PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — As tariff talks continue, concerns persist about how they could impact your household budget, including your home and auto insurance rates.
Certainly, the tariffs are going to affect everybody to some extent. It doesn't matter if you're wealthy, poor, or a non-profit like us, these costs are being passed on to the consumer, whoever that is," said Tracy Schofield.
NON-PROFIT FEELING THE PINCH
In Pinellas Park, Tracy Schofield is building his own memorial garden in the backyard of what will soon be the new home of his non-profit, The Police and Kids Foundation. It's currently in its final stages of construction.
"We support the families of first responders who die in the line of duty in Florida," Schofield said. "We average about 12 a year, anywhere in Florida. It doesn't matter if they're federal, state, county; if they're a first responder, they pass in the line of duty. Then we support their families financially."
The organization began in 2011 from his home, but quickly grew during the pandemic due to the high number of first responders who lost their lives. It's why there was a need to build a new location.
"We had our garages full, our spare bedrooms full," Schofield said. "This is probably a $2 million, $3 million project, and it's not something we have."
However, he is now bracing for those costs to increase even further due to tariffs. Not only on the project itself, but on the impact it could have on his insurance. At this point, he can't even find coverage for the new facility.
"The insurance on a property like this easily could be in the $8,000 to $10,000 a year," he said. "They [tariffs] are all coming from Canada, Mexico, and China, and those are the three being hit right now, so yes, that's going to affect us."
INSURANCE INDUSTRY PREDICTIONS
Mark Friedlander with theInsurance Information Institute agrees.
"There is no question, we would see higher rates for home insurance and auto insurance in Florida because of tariffs," Friedlander said. "The biggest supply of lumber to the US is Canada. Not only that, you're talking drywall. You're talking appliances, even furniture and garments. Most of those materials come from outside the United States."
He said, however, that they are not calculating the amount just yet, as tariff talks continue.
"We know replacement costs will increase because of tariffs, but we don't have enough data at this point to break down specific percentages," he added.
REPORT: HOW TARIFFS COULD IMPACT HOME AND AUTO INSURANCE
However, a new report from Insurify anticipatesthat insurance rates will rise8% nationwide in 2025, 9% in Florida, and even more if the tariffs remain in place. Another report also estimated that tariffs could drive up your auto insurance costs by 19% by the end of 2025, adding an average of $324 to your yearly car insurance premium.
They cited the National Association of Home Builders, which states that Canada is already subject to a 14.5% tariff, excluding any additional global reciprocal tariffs the White House is seeking. The association sent a letter to President Trump requesting that he exempt those tariffs on home-building supplies.
"While home building is inherently domestic, builders rely on components produced abroad, with Canada and Mexico representing nearly 25% of building materials imports. Imposing additional tariffs on these imports will lead to higher material costs, which will ultimately be passed on to home buyers in the form of increased housing prices," the letter read.
A LOCAL BUILDER'S PERSPECTIVE
Valerie McKenzie is the President of American Housing Builders, a local builder in Pinellas Park.
"It's basically going to raise their insurance rates, because the cost to rebuild that home is going to go up," she said.
However, she said she's already working with vendors to absorb as much of the costs potential tariffs could bring, as new home builders don't want the price of a new home to be more than existing homes on the market, she said.
"The only thing that we really expect to come the customer's way is probably appliances," McKenzie said. Everything else at this point has been covered by that Tariff Protection Insurance that we just kind of developed with a lot of the vendors."
Friedlander said a lot is still up in the air, but the impacts won't be felt right away.
"Most likely, we're looking at 12 to 18 months before we would see the impacts of tariffs on both home insurance and auto insurance," Friedlander added.
"We just have to realize that what it is, there are certain things we might not be able to do because we don't have the money, and that's unfortunate," Schofield added. "Some of that is just putting in the work that we can do for free."
The Police and Kids Foundation is mostly funded throughtheir specialty plate through the State of Florida. To learn more about how you can donate to your organization, click here.
Pope Francis passes away at the age of 88.
