Florida – Over the past few months, Florida has seen some of the biggest names in the insurance industry – Farmers, AAA and most recently Progressive – pull out of Florida’s property insurance market, essentially saying it’s too risky.
The state-backed Citizens property insurance company, which has grown to hold 1.4 million policies, is also looking to limit its exposure by trying to sell nearly 400,000 policies.
At the same time, new companies have emerged that have been approved by state regulators to underwrite or write new policies in Florida.
So who are these newer insurers willing to take on the risk? 10 Tampa Bay visited one based in the Tampa Bay area.
Jim Santo and Todd Dixon are the co-founders of Loggerhead Insurance, a year-old Tampa-based company that plans to offer homeowners’ policies to some of the 100,000 policyholders Progressive plans to drop next year.
“In the case of Progressive, they’re looking to rebalance, they’re looking at their nationwide exposure,” Santo said. “Loggerhead is a Florida-based company and we have no plans to move outside of Florida.”
“People need homeowners insurance in Florida, and we wanted to create more supply,” Santo explained. The aim is to meet demand, as many know only too well the difficulty of finding cover.
While the government-backed Citizens is looking to cut back, its policyholders don’t have to jump ship if it costs them more than 20%. Santo says Loggerhead can offer competitive rates.
“We’ve done our own analysis to know where our pricing is, and we plan to offer a competitive product,” Santo added, saying that recent legislative changes make them more confident about their growth.
Those dropped by Progressive next year don’t have to go with Loggerhead, it’s not a binding offer. But it is an option, and in the Florida market, options are a good thing.
“There will be several new companies writing business in Florida, five companies have been approved by the state regulator this year, so you’ll have opportunities to shop elsewhere,” says Mark Friedlander of the Insurance Information Institute.
