BRADENTON, Fla. — It was a sinking feeling the moment Bradenton resident Ira Kasdan got the letter last month that he had been rejected by Progressive Insurance.
DROPPED BY PROGRESSIVE
“Dear policyholders, your policy will expire at 12:01 on July 1stSt , 2024, for the following reasons. After careful consideration, we are unable to offer you a renewal policy due to a reduction in our hurricane exposure. Please contact your agent to find replacement coverage,” the letter said.
Last fall, Progressive confirmed to ABC Action News that it would not be renewing policies in Florida beginning in May 2024 to “rebalance our exposure,” we were told in a statement.
“I was shocked, I was stunned,” Kasdan said. “There may be a time when, as much as we love Florida, we may not be able to stay here.”
HARD TO FIND A NEW INSURANCE COMPANY
As a retiree on Social Security, his fears don’t stop there. He said finding information about potential new companies is not easy. He emailed ABC Action News for help.
“These are no-name carriers, companies you’ve never heard of. Or they’ve been around for about 2 to 7 years and in some cases appear to be offshoots of a failed carrier or carriers that have left the state,” Kasdan said. “I’m afraid we’re spending a lot of money to buy coverage and all we have is a promise of coverage that may not be good if we need it.”
He submitted a list of things he’d like to see on a centralized website, urging the state to create an online one-stop shop tool to help consumers shop for new coverage.
“I really wish the state would be proactive,” he said. “Create a website with performance metrics for all carriers in the state: How long have you been in business? How many homeowners insure? What is the percentage of claims paid? How long did it take you to pay them? “
SOME INFORMATION IS NOT PUBLICLY ANNOUNCED
ABC Action News spoke with the office of Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who offered a long list of resources available to consumers, but the data, which is so detailed and broken down by company, is not available to the public, a spokesman said, citing much of the information for trade secrets, propriety of insurance companies to keep the property insurance market competitive.
“The idea that customer satisfaction ratings are a trade secret sounds like nonsense,” Kasdan said. “Information about how these new carriers handle claims and how happy or unhappy customers are should not be a secret. This is what people need to be able to decide which company they want to do business with.”
Mark Friedlander of the Insurance Information Institute said there is no one-stop shop for consumers looking for a new insurance company.
“It’s not to hide information from consumers, it’s to hide information from competitors. That’s very common,” Friedlander said. “The consumer’s insurance agent should be an advocate in this process.”
Friedlander recommends that consumers use third-party sites that independently rate insurance companies. He provided a list for users to get started.
There were also several links and resources sent by both the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and the Office of Insurance Regulations. A few links, but again no centralized, easy-to-navigate location.
We’ve posted all of these resources below:
INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE RESOURCES
Third Party Insurance Company Reviews:
www.Bankrate.com [bankrate.com]
www.Insurify.com [insurify.com]
www.thezebra.com [thezebra.com]
www.trustedchoice.com [trustedchoice.com]
Objective customer reviews:
www.trustpilot.com [trustpilot.com]
Financial Ratings:
www.AMBest.com [ambest.com]
www.Demotech.com [demotech.com]
www.KBRA.com [kbra.com]
RESOURCES OF THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Here are some good resources and information to help users from our website. OIR & Citizens have industry reports, but as we’ve discussed, they won’t be as specific to each company as some would like.
OFFICE OF INSURANCE ADJUSTMENT RESOURCES
User Resources
If a consumer receives a non-renewal notice, they are encouraged to contact their agent immediately to seek alternative coverage. Insurers are required to follow Florida law regarding allowable reasons for canceling or not renewing homeowner policies. This includes a mandatory notice of 120 days before the effective date of the non-renewal to give consumers enough time to find alternative coverage. Specific deadlines for notice requirements for various policy coverages can be found in s. 627.4133, FS [leg.state.fl.us].
OIR offers several resources to help consumers choose the best policy for them. For example, to help consumers determine the best policy for their needs, OIR also offers the rate comparison tool CHOICES to provide consumers with information about rates for different types of insurance. The CHOICES Auto and Homeowners Insurance tools are based on three predefined model risk scenarios to provide the user with sample average rates in each Florida county. The CHOICES rating tool is available here – https://www.floir.com/consumers/choices-rate-comparison-search [floir.com].
Users can also search for active companies in the OIR Active Company Search. In this database, users can search by any combination of company name, company type, address type and permitted lines of business. Active companies will have information about their company type, authorization status and authorized lines of business. The OIR Active Company Search is available here – https://companysearch.myfloridacfo.gov/ [companysearch.myfloridacfo.gov].
A complete list of OIR consumer resources is available on our website here – https://www.floir.com/consumers [floir.com].
Data Resources
OIR offers data resources that provide additional information about regulated entities.
Housing market share reports – OIR publishes market share reports each quarter that contain information on policies in force, premiums and claims. These reports are available on the OIR website here – https://floir.com/tools-and-data/residential-market-share-reports [floir.com].