Insurance Rates

Like many Florida residents, we have watched homeowner’s premiums escalate in recent years. As a homeowners insurance carrier, we are often seen as the reason for such increases. The reality is the cost of purchasing reinsurance to cover claims in our State has almost doubled, and in some instances tripled, in recent years. Additionally, another factor heavily impacting insurance premiums is the cost to defend frivolous lawsuits brought on by public adjusters, fraudsters, and attorneys seeking to inflate settlements and fees.  Such scenarios serve to exacerbate the cost of business, which is ultimately passed on to all Florida residents by homeowner’s carriers throughout our State.

The majority of carriers who have not fled the State or become insolvent in 2022 and continue offering homeowners coverage in Florida have sought rate increases from 12% to 32% in recent years. As a general rule, policyholders will continue to see rates increase on all policies across the board, regardless of prior claims history. Until Florida’s homeowners insurance market stabilizes, or legislation is introduced to curb attorney fees and lawsuits, we can expect increases each year and tighter underwriting requirements when insuring homes. This makes it very difficult for your agent to place coverage for your home, as many carriers may not be offering coverage in your area.

To keep cost from skyrocketing even further, The Florida Peninsula family of companies has streamlined many of our day-to-day business practices. We work with outside vendors to inspect homes via drones and satellite mapping. We introduced a new agent quoting system, Duck Creek, in 2020 which allows our company the ability to pull property information instantly from state and county sources before binding a new policy.  We have also, taken a proactive approach to spreading our risks in a manner which allows our company to capture the best reinsurance rates available.