350,000 Floridians Need to Reapply for Hurricane Insurance

August 7, 2008

  • August 7, 2008 at 2:02 am
    JR says:
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    Only Citizens could do this to it’s agents and customers.
    The state of Florida would never allow another insurance company to NON- RENEW all of its policies under the guise of a software change. Citizens is hopeful that the clients will take the multiperil policy instead of the wind only policy. this is however a BAD decision for most clients since it is more expensive, eliminates coverage from their admitted carrier and possibly removes multi policy discounts. Citizens does not offer scheduled personal property, unmbrella, etc which most of these clients have and need. We are not talking about $110k homes here, these are mostly water front haciendas that are not cheap.

    It is amuzing to see Suzanne Murphy say that they are not “cancelling” anyone. While there is no mid term cancels, they are not offering renewals at all. the client must reapply and be eligible to obtain coverage.

    Agents are going to get burned and customers are going to be ticked, but hey, its Citizens, right. They will take care of everything.

  • August 7, 2008 at 2:47 am
    Matt80303 says:
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    Doesn’t 627.4133, F.S., apply to Citizens too?

  • August 7, 2008 at 2:52 am
    M says:
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    I Agree JR – Kind of reminds me about the Allstate Motto – “Your In Good Hands” – YEAH RIGHT!!!!

  • August 7, 2008 at 2:53 am
    Bob says:
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    Well said.

  • August 7, 2008 at 2:54 am
    Advisor says:
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    JR: You have it wrong. First, the clear majority of policies cover average homes, not the multi-million dollar homes everyone thinks are only insured by Citizens. Second, Citizens is not non-renewing anyone due to a software change . They are updating forms to begin using ISO standard forms. This fact requires all policies to be re-issued. That is standard protocol. They are openly announcing the changes and clearly advising agents of their actions and what needs to be done to make it a smooth transition. Customers will be notified of what is happening and what actions they’ll need to take. They have openly acknowledged some people may need to increase coverages. All of that is exactly what I would want them to do and I applaud their efforts. What would YOU have them do? Is Citizens perfect? Absolutely not. Are they moving in the right direction? Yes! And yes, some may not be eligible when all is said and done. But if they can’t qualify then they can’t qualify. There ARE other companies available besides Citizens. Any agent worth his/her salt knows this and will handle things accordingly. Why you think this is going to be an E&O nightmare is beyond me.

  • August 7, 2008 at 3:01 am
    Kevin L says:
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    On the nose, Advisor. It’s obvious JR is not knowledgeable about the insurance market in FL. Citizens is handling this as well as could be expected. Yes, some will not be eligible, but can be with updates to their homes. I’ll be glad when I only have one system to deal with

  • August 7, 2008 at 4:05 am
    coastal agent says:
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    Sorry, Advisor and Kevin, I have to side more with JR on this one. I am an agent faced with the E&O exposure, and it’s very real. If one of these policies is overlooked by Citizens, where will the blame be laid? Right at my feet, that’s where.
    If Citizens wanted to roll all this into their new system, they most certainly could do so. What they are doing, however, is taking the opportunity to re-underwrite an entire book of business. They have acknowledged that all data, except for the coverage limit, will be exported to the new system, so they could certainly tag the coverage data if they wanted to.
    I can’t buy the non-renewal explanation, either. There is no practical reason for non-renewal — carriers change forms all the time without non-renewing.
    I applaud Citizens for making efforts to crawl out of the prehistoric era, but every single thing they do seems to come at the expense of more work for agents. And still, at the very lowest commission rate of all my carriers.
    As for Advisor’s asertion that there are lots of other great options, I can only assume that you do not place coverage in coastal Florida. If you did, you’d know better than to make such a claim.

  • August 7, 2008 at 4:26 am
    Kevin L says:
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    You’re right, Coastal, it could be handled a lot better by Citizens. I’ve been a coastal agent for over thirty years, but only the last year in FL (prior on Long Island). Though I’m happy to have an outlet like Citizens when the voluntary market won’t write a risk, I’m concerned by what I perceive as a tower of cards that will come tumbling down at some point in the future. I’m fortunate that even though I live on the water, I built a new home the exceeds code, so getting a standard carrier was fairly easy. Many older homes don’t have any choice but Citizens.

    Is there an added E&O exposure? Of course, but I’m not going to lose sleep over it. It would be nice if Citizens would assume the risk like other carriers I’ve dealt with have done, but that’s not likely to happen.

    Here’s hoping this is another quiet season.

  • August 7, 2008 at 4:49 am
    company gal says:
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    I thought Citizens was the insurer of last resort. If so, what is this about shake roofs over 25 years not qualifying? I don’t get it.

  • August 7, 2008 at 4:59 am
    Advisor says:
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    Yes, the statute applies to Citizens. Did you read it? If so I don’t understand what you’re questioning.



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