Florida’s Citizens Defends Plan to Consider Higher Rates on New Business

By Michael Adams | May 18, 2012

May 18, 2012 at 1:43 pm

Bob says:

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If private insurers we allowed to charge the rates that Citizens does, there might be a much smaller Citizens. Go to the OIR “CHOICES” website an see for yourself.

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May 18, 2012 at 5:11 pm

Former Status Quo says:

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The guys in the legislature don’t get it. They cry murder when citizen’s wants to raise rates because it is going to hurt their chances at re-election.

At the end of the day, Citizens should be raising rates for new policyholders, and the increase should probably be somewhere in the 20-25% range so they can deter people from leaving the private market and entering into Citizens.

The biggest problem with Citizens is that it has become a political hot potato. Everyone knows what the problem is but no one wants to deal with the reality of it because it wouldn’t be “fair.” And guess what, it shouldn’t be fair – Floridians live in an area that is prone to natural disasters as a result you should pay a rate that is equivalent to the exposure.

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- May 21, 2012 at 1:01 pm
  
  SWFL Agent says:
  
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  FSQ, you make too much sense. Florida is a state prone to natural disasters (don’t forget the lightning strikes we have all summer long) plus Citizens is typically adversely selected against regarding age of roof, claims, and I’m sure other reasons. But I guess State Farm sends them some good quality business.
  
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May 18, 2012 at 8:39 pm

renoscs says:

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I used to live in Florida and have done business there in the past. Without doubt, Florida has the absolute worst DOI in the entire country!!!! Plain and simple, any carrier that writes personal home business in Florida is insane!!!! Over the long run, you can’t possibly win. The DOI and the weather related problems always see to that!!!!

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May 20, 2012 at 12:17 pm

Rod Vaughn says:

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Way to go folks who want to have it both ways! Suppress Citizens rates while saying you want to expand the free market system. Do you realize what little sense that makes? The lack of courage to tell the truth over the last 20 years has created this dilemna, and your not going to have a chance to fix it until you stop politicking and start trying to fix the problem permanently. Markets are not coming back to FL until they believe you are serious.

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May 21, 2012 at 4:28 pm

Hillsborough agent says:

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Take a 1950 home in Hillsborough County and Citizens will be a minimum of $500 less per year for comparable coverage. In a lot of cases, Citizens premiums are half what the private market is asking. That’s ridiculous.

If Citizens just narrows the gap, a competent agent can convince a customer to spend $30 more per month for a better carrier. When the difference is $1000+ per year, your time may as well be spent trying to convince a raccoon to buy auto insurance. You’ll have the same success rate.

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May 21, 2012 at 5:18 pm

Florida Agent says:

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Did you know if you decide to change agents that Citizens will consider you a new policy holder as opposed to a current policy holder? A prospect of mine was quoted $200 higher by Citizens simply because he wanted his policy handled by another agent. They effectively force you to use the same agent or pay a premium to switch.

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- May 22, 2012 at 8:39 am
  
  Hillsborough agent says:
  
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  The new business rates aren’t in effect yet. There is something different on those quotes for your rate to be $200 higher.
  
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January 18, 2013 at 5:04 pm

ANON says:

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the lenders force u to insure the home why? To protect the collateral, ok so insure the loan, not mandate that the home is insured for almost double the replacement cost. then give the option to increase the deduc, and why are we having to pay for volcano coverage, thats like a wheel chair having to have auto coverage, hey there you go citizens another way to suck a buck out of people. Why are the builders being let to build on weak ground,
it can be checked before they build, if it is in question, there are ground stablization companys who can resolve that issue.
why are the building pads not higher, i do think 12 inches above the crown of road, brevard county is 18 inches, why not 3 to 4 foot
building codes, why are they not leaning towards hurrican proof homes, and yes my critics it is available, the home will cost more,
But the savings of the over priced insurance will pay for it every year

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