State Farm plans to end property insurance in Florida

[IXIswamperIXI]

http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=25387&z=3

If this happen it will hurt my business BAD!!  Everyone who has home owners policy's who get dropped will drop their auto coverage.  I don't blame them just hurts real bad. 

Oh this is bad for me...

[foreman1]

I have state farm for everything . If they drop my home owners insurance , I'll go else where with my 4 vehicles. I realize that will no effect , but thats what I'm going to do if it comes to that.

[AintSkeered]

And, Governor Charlie Crist claims they should not be allowed to continue to do any business in Florida.

[shogun323]

And, Governor Charlie Crist claims they should not be allowed to continue to do any business in Florida.

Crist would want them out of Florida. That's less competition for Citizen's Insurance. 

[Turboderf]

I have state farm for everything . If they drop my home owners insurance , I'll go else where with my 4 vehicles. I realize that will no effect , but thats what I'm going to do if it comes to that.

X2 Iam Looking.... been with state farm for over 25 years See ya STATE FARM

[susieblazer]

have had no complaint about the auto ins so we are staying with......

[shogun323]

have had no complaint about the auto ins so we are staying with......

Cool. No need to throw the baby out with the bath water. Unforunately, according to Crist, legislation is currently in effect banning property insurance companies refusing to write in Florida to offer auto insurance.

[IXIswamperIXI]

I don't blame anyone for dropping auto if SF drops your home policy.  You could say I have to much invested with SF (business) to drop out    Which is my fault, this is a classic example of putting all your eggs in one basket.  I just screwed up.  Anyway I hope it tunrs out ok for everyone.

[Mudneck]

I have state farm for everything . If they drop my home owners insurance , I'll go else where with my 4 vehicles. I realize that will no effect , but thats what I'm going to do if it comes to that.

X2 Iam Looking.... been with state farm for over 25 years See ya STATE FARM

i WAS TOLD BY MY AGENT THAT THEY HAVE TO GIVE 6 MONTHS, AND THE SATE HAS TO APPROVE IT FIRST..

SAME HERE KISS MY AZZ GOODBYE ON 2 CAMPERS,CARS,TRUCK,BOAT./..

[foreman1]

I don't blame anyone for dropping auto if SF drops your home policy.  You could say I have to much invested with SF (business) to drop out    Which is my fault, this is a classic example of putting all your eggs in one basket.  I just screwed up.  Anyway I hope it tunrs out ok for everyone.

Same here to a degree ,
I can only hope that things remain the same because honestly ...I just dont need another problem to solve right now and this BS couldnt come at worse time.
I've had State Farm coverage for my 4 vehicles and the house for over 20 years with only 2 small claims filed , I really dont appreciate the thought of being dropped.

I called my agent today and informed him that there's absolutely no loyalty here what so ever, its strictly business.
Feel free to provide feed back to corporate if you want.

[IXIswamperIXI]

There are so many things that could happen a few examples would be:

1) They drop home owners and leave auto alone

2) They pull everything out

3) They drop home owners and the state makes them pulleverything

4) Wait to see if the state gives them some kind of increase and stay

They say the auto is fine in Florida but I guarantee if they drop home owners, home owners will drop them at an alarming rate.  Then how is there auto in Florida?  This is stupid for them all they way around, it is making more sense to me that SF is pulling everything.

[gery350]

state farms hands down is the best auto insurance out there. you can ask any bodyshop and they will tel you. there customer service is second to none. all the body shops i work with love state farms. i doubt they will pull auto.

[IXIswamperIXI]

state farms hands down is the best auto insurance out there. you can ask any bodyshop and they will tel you. there customer service is second to none. all the body shops i work with love state farms. i doubt they will pull auto.

Well I agree completely with you from the body shop end!  Thats my problem I own a body shop that writes for State Farm, we went and stayed with them for the quality they demand in their repairs compared to all the other ins. companies that just want cycle times.  I had a few chances to add some other small insurances and I passed.  BIG mistake on my part, now all ins. companies are looking for reasons to drop DRP's (direct repair program) so its going to be very hard right now to find another ins. to bring aboard.  I don't mean to go on and on, just very stressful right now.

[Mudneck]

Its a scare tactic since they didnt get the 47% rate hike. Once it gets negotiated @ state govt we will be paying 29% more & they will remain in Fl. JMHO.... Either way were still taking it in the azzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[trx#9]

state farms hands down is the best auto insurance out there. you can ask any bodyshop and they will tel you. there customer service is second to none. all the body shops i work with love state farms. i doubt they will pull auto.

Maybe auto insurance, but just ask those folks in south Florida that never got there property ins. claims after hurricane Andrew. Just think about they insure 1.2 million house holds in Florida if our average policy is $1,500 for homeowners insurance that adds up to $180,000,000 million a year and that number is probably being conservative. Plus not having a hurricane hit Florida for 4 years now would bring that up to 3/4 of billion dollars in the last four years. Yeah, they must be hurting...

Pick and choose capitalism babe.......

[susieblazer]

auto is staying , got a letter from SF president today whooooooooo........

[Turboderf]

auto is staying , got a letter from SF president today whooooooooo........

So hows the mr. SF persident doing   

[digginfool]

I've been with the same agent for 22 years.  I insure my home, 4 vehicles, 6 quads, jet skis, boat, 30 vehicles at work, my partner also has his home, jet skis, vehicles insured with them as well.  I've already told him that if SF leaves and my property insurance goes up, we're pulling everything.  Just last year, I had the hurricane mitigation inspection done and my property insurance dropped from $5,300.00 per year to $1,165.00 per year, which is proof they've been overcharging me and probably thousands of others.  I had been told that SF would be looking for an increase due to all the credits they were having to hand out from the inspections.  They went looking for a 65% increase (which is almost as much as I saved) to cover the discounts.  They didn't get it and now they bail.  Gee, I wish my grandpa had started an insurance company so I could pick up my ball and go home when the game wasn't fun anymore.   

[IXIswamperIXI]

Our home owners was 1400 a year then it was suppose to go to 2800 back when everyone was going to double the rates.  Then we did a wind survey and it went to $600 A YEAR!!!  That I think is part of the problem they were overcharging then went drastically too far the other way.  Who knows.  They pull home owners they are going to loose millions in auto, doesn't matter if they keep auto or not.

[foreman1]

auto is staying , got a letter from SF president today whooooooooo........

Yep,
 Got it in the mail today.
Quotes from the president of SF.

" I want to clarify for you that this plan involves insurance coverage only for homeoqners , renters, condominium unit owners, personal liability, boats,personal watercraft,personal articles and business property and liability policies"

"The plan requires regulatory and the approval process will will not be complete before the end of April.
State Farm will not be taking any action under the plan until regulatory approval has been recieved."
 
Jim Thompson
President
State Farm Florida

[digginfool]

I had a long conversation with my agent today and he shed some light on the situation.  The biggest problem facing State Farm Florida (which does not write the auto policies; that would be State Farm Mutual) is the wind storm mitigation discounts.  When the program was designed, it was only intended to reduce that portion of the policy dealing with wind storm coverage.  Instead, it applied across the board, which is the precise reason why Swamper's policy dropped from $2,800 to $600 and mine dropped from $5,300 to $1,165.  It was also compounded by other discounts SF was offering, such as burglar and fire alarm discounts.  Again, instead of a discount against that portion of the policy, the discount was applied across the entire policy.  Once SF realized the error, they went to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner to try to change the way the discounts were applied.  The OIC said that since the change would most likely raise the amount many policyholders would pay, in effect, it amounted to a rate change and would have to be approved.  After investigating the request, the OIC rejected the change.  SF then pointed out that at the current policy premiums and ever more people having hurricane mitigation inspections and the accompanying discounts, SF would need a 67% rate increase just to keep the doors open, let alone pay any claims in the event of a catastrophic event.  Realizing that there was no way the OIC would approve a 67% increase, they asked for a 45% increase, which, with the help of the parent company (State Farm Mutual and Fire), State Farm Florida could continue offering coverage in Florida.  Instead, the OIC and Crist said, no way and good riddance. 

Now, I know there is probably more to the story than just that and as I pointed out to my agent, I think it despicable that insurance companies be allowed to set up seperate companies strictly for high risk lines, it does seem logical that the discounts created rates that are not commensurate to the risk.  For instance, how do you justify a premium of $1,200.00 for $300,000.00 of coverage?  That's less than 4 tenths of a percent.  To put it into perspective, insurance on a $40,000.00 pickup runs $1,200.00 per year, or 3%.  Granted, there is a far greater chance that a total loss claim will occur to the pickup than the house, but when you take into consideration Florida is a great big sore thumbsticking out into hurricane alley and the shear size of a hurricane, the argument is there to be made that they are not collecting enough policy premium to justify taking on the risk.  For instance, this agent's office alone had 90 property claims that totalled $8,000,000.00 after Hurricane Wilma.  That's nearly $90,000.00 per claim and Wilma wasn't that bad of a storm.  Yes, we had huge amounts of damage to vegetation and overhead utilities but the property damage wasn't that bad; nothing approaching the devastation of Andrew or Katrina.

The other issue is that if State Farm leaves, there will be at least another million policies added to Citizens, which if a catastrophic event does occur, cannot possibly pay all the claims and then the State of Florida will be in default.  Guess who picks up the tab then?  The real solution would be to create a federal hurricane insurance program such as has been created for floods.  It makes sense seeing how more than 2/3 of the continental US coastline is subject to a direct landfall of a major hurricane.  That type of backing would allow State Farm Florida to continue to offer coverage and would lure additional insurers into the Florida property market, which would create more competition and help keep rates at a reasonable level.  I don't think that's too much to ask.

[foreman1]

At the rate we're going we might as well lower our flag and nationalize everything because thats where we are at.
God damn it we're screwed!

[raca65]

We can get you homeowners insurance pretty much anywhere in the state in or out of the wind pool and with private companies NOT citizens especially you guys in PB, Broward, and Dade ethier email me raca65@yahoo.com or call us 772-286-6359...

[Mudneck]

We can get you homeowners insurance pretty much anywhere in the state in or out of the wind pool and with private companies NOT citizens especially you guys in PB, Broward, and Dade either email me raca65@yahoo.com or call us 772-286-6359...

For Sure, Tracy got 3 of my rental properties insured with A rated companies. The prices were 20-30% less than citizens after the wind storm mitigation and architectural inspection reports were turned in.

[Da_Mtg_Man]

Give Tracy a call. Mine went from $2,000 to $1100 when I switched to his company. I know every house/situation is different but It's worth a call.