Florida Takes Over Coral Insurance; Security First, MacNeill Step In

April 10, 2009

  • April 10, 2009 at 9:56 am
    ringo says:
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    Think about it. Wilma was three years ago. No major storms in FL since then. And this take-out company couldn’t make enough money or arrange capital infusion in those three years to outrun Wilma, even thought the state was handing out surplus notes using state money to lil’ companies. This is a sure sign of things to come when the Big One hits. Florida made the wrong wager when they bet on take-out companies instead of granting rate relief to national insurers.

  • April 10, 2009 at 10:54 am
    Mr. Solvent says:
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    This is a public adjuster problem combined with a company that was just too small to be profitable. There are many more companies who will be just fine. Coral was not a take out company and they didn’t focus on a large enough area of the state to become profitable in my opinion.

  • April 10, 2009 at 1:43 am
    cletus says:
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    Hmmm, financially weak insurers, Florida property coverage, hurricanes happen, mismanagement, ill advised, politically-motivated intervention to prevent national insurers from achieving rate adequacy to make a profit or break even, etc. Does this scenario sound remotely familiar to any one who has lived in FL or known about the FL insurance situation over the past 20 years?

  • April 10, 2009 at 1:55 am
    Doug says:
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    I strongly disagree with Mr. Solvent’s comment that there is a public adjuster “problem.” I think that public adjusters are often NECESSARY so that policyholders can get the money they DESERVE because they can’t always fight the battles themselves. As insurance agents, we see first-hand how many of our insurers try to screw our clients out of money at claim time, and who gets all the flack? We do.

    On another note, as a Coral agent, I think it’s funny how the company that made its agents jump through about five times as many underwriting hoops as any other company writing business locally, supposedly in an effort to only accept quality risks, is now in receivership. Their whole “underwriting matrix,” with different sets of guidelines for homes 0-5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-25, and 25+ years old made it such a pain to write with them that I only placed about 8 policies with Coral. In hindsight, I’m glad that’s the case.

    Bottom line is we’re ALL in trouble when the big one hits.

  • April 10, 2009 at 3:10 am
    SWFL Agent says:
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    Great point Doug. Their underwriting was restrictive and made it appear that they had built a better mouse trap. Not sure but I don’t believe they got involoved in much take out business if any. That worries me about the carriers that have been using the “takeout” strategy as a primary source for business. They certainly don’t have the underwriting “hoops” that Coral had. Additionally, if an IA places a risk with Citizens it probably means that no one else would take it. So an unacceptable risk becomes a “prize” for a takeout company? No sense in this.

  • April 10, 2009 at 5:13 am
    Lisa says:
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    I think Mr. Solvent’s take was right on. Even after Coral attempting to “build a better underwriting mouse trap” the PA’s in that limited area have taken their toll when it came to the claims payouts.
    Everyone who’s roof wasn’t leaking after Wilma in 2005 seems to need a new one now. Unless your ready to put up some valid resistance, don’t expect to stay in business. I know how you agents hate to take any heat.

  • April 11, 2009 at 9:33 am
    Mr. Solvent says:
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    I haven’t met a single agent in favor of public adjusters. Nearly every client with a private insurer got their claim paid right the first time. Some carriers went above even what the client expected for claims payments. The very few that were mishandled needed no more than some additional supporting documentation and/or a few more phone calls. Don’t tell me that public adjusters do a service to anyone but themselves.

  • April 11, 2009 at 9:42 am
    Fla. Agent says:
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    If the insurance companies screwed all their insureds as you insist, then why do you PAs advertise their services as extensively as they are in the SoFla area?

    The number of broken / cracked tile claims has skyrocketed in the past couple of years. Not to mention the fact that a PA and his firm was recently charged with arson.

    Dade County is the fraud capital of the state, if not the country. Remember the 04 season and all the fradulent FEMA claims for assistance in a county where the wind never got above 25 MPH in all three storms that hit South Florida? Not Dade county, but Charlotte (Charlie) and Martin County (Francis & Jeanne).

    Companied have been reporting fraudulent claims for the past four years to the OIR – but unless its a high profile PIP / Auto case, they prefer to sit on their thumbs.

    PA is short for Parasitic Aberation!

  • April 11, 2009 at 9:42 am
    Really says:
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    Mr. Solvent,

    Sounds like you’ve been outsmarted by a public adjuster.

  • April 11, 2009 at 10:00 am
    Doug says:
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    I’m sorry, Mr. Solvent, but I continue to disagree. If you needed to sue a very large corporation, would you “go it alone” and represent yourself against that corporation’s high-powered attorneys? Of course not.

    Public adjusters are the “people’s attornies” of the insurance world and sometimes they’re necessary to stop an insurance company from screwing a policyholder out of the money rightfully owed them.

    How would you feel if your roof were wrecked by a hurricane and the insurer said they wouldn’t cover it because you had a couple cracked tiles before the storm? It’s happened many times before and will continue to happen, and like I said before, I’m all for anything that’s in my clients’ best interests.



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