State Farm Florida Insurance Company announced earlier this year that it intends to leave the Florida Property and Casualty Insurance Market. The only thing still yet to be determined is the actual terms of the withdrawal plan and the timing around when the policy cancellations will begin.
Front and center are the estimated 700,Guest Posting000 State Farm Florida home insurance policies that are expected to be cancelled over a two year period – that’s over 29,000 policies that will be cancelled each and every month for two years. Regardless of your perspective, this is the most significant event that has ever occurred in the history of the Florida homeowners insurance market – and you could not pick a worse time for this to happen.
To begin with, many of the home insurance policies that will be dropped by State Farm Florida will occur at the exact same time that Citizens Insurance Florida will be moving forward with higher rates in 2010 as required by law.
Although dumping on big insurance in Florida has become one of our favorite things to do, here are some little known facts that won’t ever make the coverage of State Farm Florida’s planned withdrawal from the state:
Customers of State Farm Florida love this company, its customer service, the multiline discounts, and the fast and fair claim service they received from the company after the 2004/2005 Florida hurricanes.
When State Farm Florida policyholders are asked to rate their satisfaction with State Farm on a scale of “1-10″ many give them a satisfaction rating of “10″ even if their policy is being dropped by the company!
Although State Farm Florida’s 47% rate increase was turned down prior to their withdrawal announcement, most of the data that we are collecting says that the annual premiums State Farm Florida policyholders are paying are among the lowest in Florida – partially from the multi-line discounts and also due to the significant wind mitigation credits that many customers are receiving.
None of the above changes the fact that State Farm Florida is leaving the Florida home insurance market. Given this reality, here is what you need to be aware of if you are a State Farm Florida policyholder and want to take proactive steps in response to the company’s announcement.