Insurance companies have been leaving Florida recently, thanks to skyrocketing prices. On Tuesday, Farmers Insurance Group informed the state that it would be dropping roughly 100,000 home, auto and umbrella insurance policies across Florida.
This would make the fourth company to leave the Florida market within the last year — most citing a predicted rise in future hurricane risks, according to The Tampa Bay Times.
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Farmers Insurance has also reduced new business in California, citing extreme weather and wildfire threats. “This business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure,” the company wrote in a statement.
Earlier this year, the company reportedly stopped writing new property insurance policies in efforts to “more effectively manage our risk exposure.”
According to a Farmers agent, the company was looking at whether to leave the market within the next 30 days, stating that “There’s supposed to be news about what the state of Florida is going to bring and whether Farmers is going to stay or go and what they’re gonna do with agents.”
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, whose agency oversees the Office of Insurance Regulation, tweeted Monday that he was hearing rumors that Farmers might pull out of Florida and said his office would “explore every avenue possible for holding them accountable.”
Hearing rumors @WeAreFarmers might pull out of Florida. If that’s true my office is going to explore every avenue possible for holding them accountable. Don’t get to leave after taking policyholder money. Can’t write auto if you’re not doing homeowners either. Zero communication!
— Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) July 10, 2023
Florida law requires insurance companies to give 90-day notice in writing to the state if it plans to discontinue services. They are also required to give a policyholder a 120-day notice before the insurance end-date.
This decision follows years of turmoil in the state’s property insurance market, triggered by a series of hurricanes commencing in 2017. Hurricane Ian last year was Florida’s most expensive storm, causing more than $109 billion in damages across the state. To date, Floridians pay the highest property insurance premiums in the nation.
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