Florida Reforms Are Paying Off for Drivers. Don’t Mess it up With Repeal of PIP

For years, I’ve warned that Florida’s legal climate was out of control — driven not by consumers or local businesses, but by a handful of billboard trial lawyers who made fortunes exploiting loopholes in our laws.

Their tactics fueled one of America’s most expensive auto insurance markets (just as they’ve created America’s most expensive market for doctors to practice, which drives health care costs sky high, but that’s for another day). But thanks to the historic lawsuit abuse reforms championed by Gov. DeSantis and the Florida Legislature in 2023, we are clearly seeing meaningful results.

According to recent data from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR), Florida’s top five auto insurers—representing 78% of the market—are reporting an average rate reduction of 6.5% in 2025. One carrier has even filed for an 11.5% decrease. This marks a dramatic reversal from prior years, where lawsuit abuse was a driving force, driving rates up an average of 31.7% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024.

Last month, Gov. DeSantis and Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky announced even more evidence that the pro-consumer reforms are working. Florida drivers will receive more than $1 billion in auto-insurance refunds as insurers pass savings from reduced litigation and improved market conditions back to consumers.

And State Farm just filed its fourth auto insurance rate reduction in a year, lowering average personal auto premiums by 10% and delivering a combined 20% decrease for policyholders over the past 12 months.

That’s real money returning to families and local businesses across Florida — tangible proof that reform, not rhetoric, delivers results.

These results aren’t accidental. They are the direct outcome of thoughtful, pro-consumer policies. We took a stand against lawsuit abuse, fought hard to elect pro-market policymakers, eliminated incentives for AOB fraud, and strengthened the integrity of the Personal Injury Protection (PIP) system — Florida’s no-fault insurance program provides up to $10,000 in immediate medical coverage for anyone injured in a car crash.

Yet despite this clear progress, some in the Legislature — influenced by the same billboard trial lawyers who advertise on TV and who benefitted from Florida’s old broken lawsuit abuse system — are calling for a full repeal of the no-fault PIP system and a shift to mandatory bodily injury (BI) coverage, or an at-fault tort system. That might sound popular but would be a costly mistake that takes Florida backward.

Here’s what’s at stake. Auto insurance rates are declining thanks to the recent legal reforms, but eliminating PIP and moving to mandatory BI with higher insurance limits would reverse that progress—doubling premiums in every Florida county for drivers only carrying $10,000 in coverage–those that could least afford the increase. Removing PIP could also shift costs to the healthcare industry, further driving up healthcare costs statewide.

PIP was designed to allow drivers quick access to medical coverage while avoiding costly and lengthy lawsuits necessary to determine fault. Eliminating PIP opens the door for more litigation, which means more legal costs, higher premiums, and potentially more out-of-pocket costs for drivers.

The 2023 lawsuit abuse reforms have allowed the PIP system to work even more efficiently, reducing unnecessary litigation and allowing a decrease in auto insurance rates, putting money back into the pockets of Florida residents and local businesses. Now is not the time to shift to a different system that largely benefits billboard lawyers. Let’s allow the 2023 reforms to continue to work.

Mark Wilson is president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Consumer Protection Coalition, which works to reduce the cost of lawsuit abuse. This commentary initially ran in the Tallahassee Democrat news site. Reprinted here with permission from the Chamber.

Topics Florida Personal Auto