[Corrie22]

Originally Posted by Lillie767

More mass hysteria caused by poor reporting by so-called news outlets. I wouldn't trust them to report accurately that the sun rose in the morning.

they do it on purpose.....there's no other reason some get it right...and others anti-DeSantis

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by Lillie767

I wish chicken little would stop running around. Only certain Farmers-branded policyholders are affected. More mass hysteria caused by poor reporting by so-called news outlets. I wouldn't trust them to report accurately that the sun rose in the morning.


"This announcement only impacts those with Farmers-branded policies. A spokesperson wrote in a statement, “Farmers offers insurance through several different brands, and this decision applies only to policies issued through our exclusive agency distribution channel. There is no impact to 70% of policies currently in force for customers in the state, including Bristol West®, Foremost SignatureSM, Farmers GroupSelectSM, Foremost Choice® and Foremost®-branded policies. Such policies will continue to be available to serve the insurance needs of Floridians. Affected customers will receive notifications detailing when their coverage will end and will be advised of options for replacement coverage.”

Friedlander says policyholders should not panic, “It could take a year before you receive a non-renewal notice. Those with open Hurricane Ian claims should not panic either.”

“For the Farmers customers that are impacted by [Tuesday’s] decision, you will get a formal written notice from the company 120 days in advance of your policy renewal date,” Friedlander added. “So nobody’s policy is getting cancelled right away. Nobody’s policy is getting canceled midterm.”

Policyholders are safe this hurricane season"

https://winknews.com/2023/07/11/farm...group-florida/

IMO, the misleading information about the Farmer's Insurance Co. "pulling out of Florida", is just another tidbit to add to the laundry list of those who get their entertainment from bashing all things Florida. Doesn't matter how inaccurate or just plain fabricated their information may be.

[Corrie22]

yes, but how many people read ”Farmers Insurance 4th company to leave Florida”....and stopped right there

...fell for it hook line and sinker....and now believe it

mission accomplished

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by Corrie22

yes, but how many people read ”Farmers Insurance 4th company to leave Florida”....and stopped right there

...fell for it hook line and sinker....and now believe it

mission accomplished

Yep, they don't read beyond the headline. And draw the intended conclusions right there...

[Thundarr457]

Keep these doom and gloom threads coming and maybe we will get less people moving here.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

Insurers can't charge any more than what people will pay. There is such a thing as a loss leader, and law of averages. I don't know if they do it in Insurance but in retail, a large chain can have a few stores, or even a state's worth of stores, that loses money for the company. As long as the rest of the chain makes bank. They can write off the losses, and give themselves a lovely tax break overall.

There were some Dunkin Donuts franchises like that where I used to live. The guy owned six of them, three in the same town, on the same street, all within 2 miles of each other. During any given month, at least one of them lost money for him. But the rest carried him and he was making close to a million bucks a year in income over expenses. If he had shut one of them down, someone else might've taken the business and become competition. I imagine an insurance company like Farmers' wouldn't miss one state's worth of profits, when it does business in another 49 states.

So I'm not convinced that "the state sets the prices" is the reason. Or at least, not the only reason. I think a lot of it has to do with the roofing debacle, where roofing companies (legit and not legit) scammed the insurance companies after Hurricane Maria by submitting the claims on behalf of homeowners. Many of those homeowners didn't need new roofs and weren't even affected by the hurricane. But the laws in the state - the DEregulation - created a nightmare of payouts that the insurance companies were obligated to provide.

And then there were the actual damages caused by various hurricanes, especially within the last decade. The insurance companies have had to pay out more than they've taken in, in many areas of the state. So rather than risk continuing to pay out more than they take in, they're closing shop. They can't charge $600,000 a year in insurance just in case a $600k home is totaled by a hurricane. They now have rules about the roof replacements. But rather than deal with that, it might be easier for them to just not cover anyone at all in this state. The regulations here are nuts. But so are the risks for the insurance companies.

The state in the past made edicts that if you stop writing homeowners insurance, you couldn't write any other types. Thus creating a bundling effect.

Not 100% up to date on current rules.

P.S. Imagine expense spreading. If your national ad campaigns, computer systems, offices etc. all have to be spread around...not doing business in a large state like FL would mean that not only is it a loss, it's big enough to even overwhelm that (and potentially profits from other lines).

P.S.S. The state caps profits via approval so unlike your grocery store loss leader example, imagine instead if the government capped profits on all your grocer store items at some level.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Travelassie

IMO, the misleading information about the Farmer's Insurance Co. "pulling out of Florida", is just another tidbit to add to the laundry list of those who get their entertainment from bashing all things Florida. Doesn't matter how inaccurate or just plain fabricated their information may be.

I love Florida and the title isn't misleading if you stop and understand that you cannot just stop doing business in most states (short of bankruptcy) for homeowners insurance because they don't want market disruption.

So, it's like a gradual pull out unlike a widget company just shutting doors. You announce a pull out and then it takes a looong time to stop doing business.

Hopefully people here are beginning to grasp the extent of state control over what these companies can do and FYI California is going through the same thing now.

[Corrie22]

other insurance companies "just stopped doing business in Florida"....so yes they can

the title could not be more "misleading".....Farmers did not leave Florida

[Mike from back east]

I emailed my sister back on 12 July, as per posting #4 in this thread. As of today, my sister reports this about Fort Myers from her daughter who's lived there for probably 20 years. I've deleted the names of the relatives for privacy's sake. Sad mess. I hope the state of FL (or FEMA) steps in to get people what they're due.

Yep, this is what happened to (daughter's name). The estimate for a new roof was over $8,000 and they got $1100. Thanks goodness they had backup funds.

(Daughter's name) says debris is still piled sky high everywhere. What was a 10 minute commute to her work is now over an hour as most of the roads she once used are still not clear.

SUCKS big time. (Name of her guy) works mostly in Naples, and while his drive time is better than hers, he said it takes him 15-20 minutes longer. But due to the hurricane he has more work than he can handle, so his does his oldest, cash paying customers first and if payment is by insurance companies he will not do it because of the situation going on down there, he tells people it has to be cash because he himself suffered loses with his insurance company.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

I emailed my sister back on 12 July, as per posting #4 in this thread. As of today, my sister reports this about Fort Myers from her daughter who's lived there for probably 20 years. I've deleted the names of the relatives for privacy's sake. Sad mess. I hope the state of FL (or FEMA) steps in to get people what they're due.

The state of Florida is doing absolutely nothing to help these people. And doing absolutely nothing about the insurance crisis with both home and auto. It’s a major problem. Add that to high interest rates and the housing market is showing signs of weakness.