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Agree, Citizens policyholders may not have the means to pay a large assessment. Plus, since this assessment would follow a major disaster, I can see opposition from both the insureds and politicians on the requirement to pay. Let’s face it, there are many people that have walked away from mortgage payments, so a Citizens assessment would be no different.
The State should determine what the maximum possible payout for losses last would have been then rerate policies that were in force last year for that exposure and refund any difference in rate – that excess coverage really wasn’t in place…
This very morning a prospect (referral to me) called looking for home insurance and his home is WEST of Boca Raton, 2005 year built and get this, he was with Citizens! No claims! So what is Citizens doing insuring these newer homes to begin with!
By the way, moved the client to a private carrier and saved him $700 off the Citizens premium.
I would guess a State Farm customer?
State Farm or one of the giant commercial agents. That’s pretty much it.
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I think it would be great if the carriers that want to write business in FL would include all lines too, but the problem is that all these companies are in business to make money. I think they would walk away and then we are left with fewer choices on all lines of insurance. We can’t forget that nobody HAS to write business in FL they CHOOSE to. Imagine the public having to deal with a bad choice on all of their coverage instead of just their homeowners. Not saying it is right but I think it would be the reality.
With all do respect, the last time I checked there are alternatives to writing Citizens. Unfortunately, there are some captive insurance companies no longer writing new business in FL who have their agents use Citizens as a Primary carrier. To say flippantly, he needs to provide “alternatives” is disingenuous. There are companies who are aggressively seeking ways to offer “Take Outs”, one such company is Southern Fidelity.
Gov. Scott has had the intestinel fortitude to continue to deal with the Citizens issue, unlike his predecessor who lacked the spine to stand up and make the tough choices. Guess that’s why he’s now a democrat working for Morgan & Morgan! Gov. Scott’s got my vote – again!
I agree that Scott is better than Crist – but Charlie had set the bar very low. To say Scott shouldn’t work on alternatives is giving the guy a free ride. I expect more from our public officials I am sorry that you don’t.
Well if your comments were addressed to me, I never said Scott shouldn’t work on alternatives. There already are alternatives in the marketplace, including the Governor seeking more takeouts by the private carriers. We don’t know what’s being done behind the scenes to get new carriers in to the state. Man Comp you read an awful lot in my comments that was not there. Charlie may have set the bar so low he would have to step over it. Scott is cleaning up what Charlie failed to do and it ain’t gonna happen overnight. It’s incumbent upon the Governor to gather people who can fix this problem, because he alone is not going to do it. But he cannot pander to the public, appealing just on price, as Crist did.
He said he would be transparent – If he is working on something be specific – It is nice to see you will give him the benefit of the doubt – I will not.
Well if you follow the Insurance Commissioner he is working overtly in having companies offer more of a takeout. They are also working with existing carriers, such as Southern Fidelity and Capitol, to establish companies just to takeout Citizens. Scott has also been working with the State Legislature and cabinet to find ways to reduce the Citizens book of business. Short of him being the messiah and wave his hand so everything can be fixed, he’s addressing the problem and with his team are finding ways to reduce the burden of Citizens. It ain’t gonna happen overnight, but he appears to be on the right path. You don’t get rid of 1.5 million policy holders that quickly. You look outside the box as well and allow E&S companies the same opportunity to takeout business. At least all options are on the table and moving in the right direction.
There is a magic wand that would wipe away a great number of Citizens’ exposure. Don’t allow State Farm agents a Citizens appointment unless they have companies actively seeking new business. From there, do a targeted takeout from those agents.
Remember, State Farm didn’t lose market share when they dropped those policies…and most of them didn’t end up in the private market.
Also, to allow State Farm to continue to place new business with Citizens and offer a discount on auto in addition is insane.
I was under the impression that SF allowed agents to place the SF non-renewals with certain carriers (example – Universal P&C) but the agent could not place a new prospect with these carriers. Only Citizens. It’s interesting, I’ve heard the SF sales pitch on why a customer should take a Citizens policy over a another Florida carrier. It’s pretty convincing. Especially to a SF customer that has recently moved down from another state.
Agree with your position on the multi-policy discount. If it was eliminated I suspect SF would try and increase the homeowner discount on their auto. Or find something else to call it.
They were/are allowed to place them into private carriers. They don’t typically for the auto discount.