State Farm Florida Informs Of Exit From Florida Homeowners Insurance Market – Agents Rush To Fill Vacuum
Hit by expanding financial pressure, State Farm Florida Insurance Company recently announced its plan of departing the home and property insurance business in Florida. But for a while now, even companies like Allstate Floridian, Nationwide Insurance, Travelers, Metropolitan Property & Casualty, Hartford Insurance Company and even Hanover Insurance Company have been reported to be canceling policies, or serving notices of non-renewal. Ever since the 2002 and 2004 hurricane seasons, many insurance companies with widespread business, suffered financially on account of huge insurance claims, causing many of them to quit the home insurance market in Florida in droves. State Farm Florida is the most recent of the big insurance companies to reveal its stance on continuing business in Florida.
Smaller insurance companies hankering to fill void
The latest announcement by State Farm Florida of its intention to vacate the home insurance market in Florida has caused fury on some fronts and serious concern for others. Even during good years, finding a good insurance deal is difficult for most Florida residents, specifically those living in coastal areas. Now, with the hurricane season having just begun, and with State Farm Florida’s decision to withdraw; there is a vacuum that insurance agents from smaller insurance firms are battling to service. Individuals facing the threat of losing insurance coverage are scrambling to find new insurers; but evaluating these and understanding the policies is a daunting task for most.
The battle on multiple fronts
Home owners face the problem of trying to identify the right insurer for them. Because of the dominance by larger national insurance companies, most home owners have been relatively unaware of the various options available to them. Home owners also face a hurdle finding an insurer that will cover previously damaged or even semi-repaired homes and many face the threat of being left uninsured during the forthcoming hurricane season. Agents meanwhile are stepping over each other trying to locate and insure the cream of the home owners that would be left without coverage due to State Farm Florida’s recent decision to vacate the Florida property insurance market. Also, many of the agents representing smaller companies have policy guidelines from their companies that allow them to only penetrate certain areas of the state. Currently, ChoiceOne, Tower Hill, Travelers, Bankers, GMAC Home, Mercury, Liberty American, Citizens, American Strategic and Universal Property & Casualty are amongst the most prominent insurance companies in the foray at present, attempting to identify and lap up the best policy holders from the State Farm Florida fold.
Matching real estate insurance policies with demand
People looking out for the ideal insurer keep coming up short because of very high policy rates, or because of insurers simply being unwilling to provide policies to specific individuals. Meanwhile agents representing companies looking at closing deals quickly with people who’re willing to close are finding it difficult to locate such individuals. The best solution seems to have come from online match-making services like RateElert.com that use convergence technologies to bring together agents looking out for a specific profile of customer; and, individuals who are looking for specific kinds of deals. Others like homeinsurancebuyers.org do the research on behalf of consumers and provide a premium service that helps home owners locate the most ideal insurer in their location, along with the best deals they can land.
