Five years free of hurricanes and state insurance market still battered and weak

Five years after Hurricane Wilma whipped through South Florida, the insurance industry is still picking up the pieces: 

• Claims for Wilma continue to trickle in this year, for damage homeowners say they have just discovered from a five-years-ago storm.

• Several insurance companies have collapsed and those left standing are raising rates. 

• The state's largest private insurer tried to abandon Florida and only remains here in exchange for dropping 125,000 policyholders and increasing premium prices.

• State-run insurer Citizens Property Insurance is growing larger.

• Sinkholes, labeled by some as a scourge nearly as big as mold, are being blamed as the source of more claims than ever, including well outside the state's ``sinkhole alley'' in Central Florida.

• Public adjusters -- who work for consumers who may be having trouble getting help from their insurers -- are driving up costs and filing questionable claims. More here.

 

Comments

[Senior Planning NJ]

Thank you for your big help. You just shared such a huge information for the readers including me. Thanks a lot.

[Awe Par]

Great post! I lived in Florida for almost eight years, I witnessed the fall of the insurance industry in Florida thanks to the massive amounts of hurricanes that came through during that period of time. Its a shame that trying to compare insurance quotes now is basically a joke because most of the insurance companies' prices are so high now it is pointless!