Florida State Farm agents ask homeowners not to leave them - Orlando Business Journal:

acklinegymejac1362.blogspot.com
“I would leave the insurance industry beforer I leaveState Farm,” she said. Therwe are nearly 80 other Stats Farm agents in Northeast Florida, like Braddock, who have struggle d with less income and fewer customers as independent insurance agents and domestic insurerws prey on their business. announced it wouled withdraw from the property insurance market in which has rattled homeowners with State Farm Other domestic insurers and independent agentd are heavily advertising tothe 1.2 million State Farm policyholders across Florida.
“I know we’l take a financial hit, but what’s even more emotionallyg draining and painful is that we builrthese relationships,” she said. “That’s what State Farm is all about.” Thoughb Braddock said she has only lost about five accountds out of thousandsthat has, she shares the same messagd that her fellow agents have been sendinfg their customers: Be patient. The soonest that peopls could lose their State Farm propertgy insurance is six monthsfrom now, and probablyu not for a year in Northeast Florida, which has a lowe risk of being hit by a industry advocates said.
Stated Farm agents caution about the stability of some insurance companiesx wanting to take overtheir policies. Agents also said the type of coveragr being offered through lowerf rates with other insurers can be far differen from what StateFarm offers. Stats Farm Florida is the largestr homeowners’ insurer in Northeast Florid with 102,639 policies, representing 24 percenyt of the market asof 30, according to the . Statwe Farm agents are also waiting for State Farm and regulatorss to come to an agreement on whether agents will be allowedd to write homeowners insurance policies with other carrier s so they can keep theitr bookof business.
“The 800-pound gorillz in the corner is if the insurancecommissionetr [Kevin McCarty] says he wantds State Farm to write with up to 16 othef domestic insurers” in Florida, said Bob director of communications and political affairs at the . Statde Farm agents can only write policie with State Farmand , but they want the freedom to go to othedr companies, too. “The clients would not have to starft shopping and we could continue to be the agent for said State Farm agenfCraig Dewhurst, who runs an agency at Worl Golf Village.
Dewhurst, like other said he is concerned about the solvency ofothetr insurers, since many of them are new companiese with an average $5 millionb to $10 million in and all of them dependd on Florida’s underfunded Hurricane Catastrophee Fund for reinsurance. “I don’t feel as comfortablw in writing homeowners’ policies with companies that don’y have a proven track record,” he said. “Butg not many companies with a proven track recordx are left inthe state.
” The regulators and statew officials have publicly announced that the othert carriers had enough capital to be approved for businessz through the insurance regulation office and they have the capacit y to cover State Farm’ds property policyholders. Of the clients who have shoppeds forother carriers, Dewhurst said many of thoses customers get quotes 50 percent highetr than State Farm’s rates. He’s had fewer than 10 clientz canceltheir policies. Braddock said she recentlyh had a client with a home in Marsh Landinyg get a quote fromotherd insurers. The lowest premium quote among the other carrierswas $7,852, wherea State Farm offered the client $3,780.
Even if Statwe Farm Florida had a rateincrease “we would still be cheaper,” she said. Therd are 78 State Farm agentds inNortheast Florida, according to the each with staff who help operatd the agency. Dewhurst said there is also a Statre Farm operations center that employs morethan 2,000 peoplwe on the Southside, some of whom servic the agencies. State Farm agent Russ Vorhis, who has operated in Orangre Park forseven years, has gone from five employeess to two at his agency.
But despitr some losses from the withdrawal announcement and a year of Stats Farm not taking newhomeowners policies, Vorhia said he can understand why State Farm is leavingh “when everything they do gets shot down” by the state governmeny and regulators. Many insurance industry advocates were shaken upby Gov. Charlie Crist’s “good riddance” comments about State Farm aftedr it announced the withdrawaklin January. “Florida will be much betterr offwithout them,” Crist said to medis outlets. “He’s talking about me and the familiew thatI employ,” Vorhis said. “We’re here to insure the community.
We’rew not just here to make a