12 replies to this topic

[GRDadof3]

I did a search but didn't find a thread for this.

I read on another site that the insurance crisis in Florida has reached epic proportions.  Some homeowners and businesses have seen 1000 - 2000% increase in property insurance bills.  What do you guys thinks?  Justified, considering there has been over $38 Billion in hurricane losses in the past few years?

I've also read it may be partially to blame for the housing slump in Southern Florida, and the recent "Florida exodus" phenomenon.

I was surprised this topic hadn't been raised here.  I had no problem finding articles about it:

http://news.google.c...tnG=Search News

[poonther]

GRDadof3 I'm not exactly sure why we don't talk about the insurance crisis in our state like we should here, but maybe one of the reasons we don't is b/c we deal w/it everyday and hear about it on our news or read about it in our papers almost everyday.  You know up to the point where we are a little burned out to it.  Even our Gov's race this year was heavily focused on this issue, as it should have been.

Personally (feel free to disagree) I think that the insurance companies that write in FL are not justified w/their rapid triple digit increases.  

As for the mass exodus leaving FL, I think that's been blown a little out of proportion.  We still have 1000 people moving here a day and only 400 leaving/day so that's still a net gain of 600.  Our rampant growth could use a little slowing down and our exodus is nothing like what occurred in the Rust Belt States a few decades ago.  I mean can it really be called an  mass exodus when you still have more people moving in that out?

[GRDadof3]

poonther, on Jan 13 2007, 12:02 PM, said:

GRDadof3 I'm not exactly sure why we don't talk about the insurance crisis in our state like we should here, but maybe one of the reasons we don't is b/c we deal w/it everyday and hear about it on our news or read about it in our papers almost everyday.  You know up to the point where we are a little burned out to it.  Even our Gov's race this year was heavily focused on this issue, as it should have been.

Personally (feel free to disagree) I think that the insurance companies that write in FL are not justified w/their rapid triple digit increases.  

As for the mass exodus leaving FL, I think that's been blown a little out of proportion.  We still have 1000 people moving here a day and only 400 leaving/day so that's still a net gain of 600.  Our rampant growth could use a little slowing down and our exodus is nothing like what occurred in the Rust Belt States a few decades ago.  I mean can it really be called an  mass exodus when you still have more people moving in that out?

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't call it a "mass exodus", but just the other day, I read a blog that was linked to an Orlando Sentinel article that for the first time in 30 years, more moving vans are outbound vs. inbound:

Florida Exodus?  More people leaving for less costly locales?

Michigan made some bad choices and put all of its eggs in the automotive "basket" over the last 30 years, by heavily subsidizing that industry and giving the Big 3 all kinds of power, and we're now paying the price.  In the same way, Florida allowed rampant growth along the coastal areas because it filled state coffers to the brim, and now they wonder what happened.

BTW: we're getting a little burned out on stories about troubles with the Big 3 automakers up here too.

[vbfl85]

Quote

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't call it a "mass exodus", but just the other day, I read a blog that was linked to an Orlando Sentinel article that for the first time in 30 years, more moving vans are outbound vs. inbound:

When you have a large numer of people who move to Florida, especially South Florida, from Latin America and even Europe, a moving van is not necessary.

[sunshine]

not everybody use a van to move or in the articale case renting a van to move....

[Chemmie]

If you live in a city where auto theft is a more common crime, you pay more in car insurance.  If you crash a few cars, you pay more in car insurance.  If you have Cancer, or you're a smoker, you pay more for life insurance.  If you live in an area where you can get blown away by hurricanes, you pay more in home insurance.
Tough it up.  If you don't like it, move to a place that isn't in the path of hurricanes.

Edited by Chemmie, 18 January 2007 - 05:26 AM.

[JFW657]

Chemmie, on Jan 18 2007, 06:25 AM, said:

Tough it up.  If you don't like it, move to a place that isn't in the path of hurricanes.

I truly hate hearing people take that kind of cavalier attitude towards a complicated problem like this one.

A lot of people can't afford to just "move to a place that isn't in the path of hurricanes".

Other people's jobs and families are here.

And BTW.... what about all the billions and billions of dollars in profits the insurance companies made in all those years prior to the recent storms? I know they pay dividends to their stockholders, but they also reinvest a good portion of it. They should have enough assets to get through a couple of less profitable years, and with moderate, reasonable rate increases hang on until the storms calm down and their profits go back up.

I was just dropped by my insurance company that I'd been a loyal customer of for several years. Never missed a payment, never filed a claim. Now, the new company they're referring me to is going to charge probably twice as much as I was paying and my rates had already gone up steadily over the years.

Because I own my house free and clear, I'm not required to carry insurance coverage, so I'll probably have to go a couple of years without it in hopes that we don't get hit by any serious storms for a couple of more years and the insurance companies come crawling back on their hands and knees begging for our business and lowering their rates to get it.

[Go Gators]

JFW657, on May 5 2007, 01:13 AM, said:

Because I own my house free and clear, I'm not required to carry insurance coverage, so I'll probably have to go a couple of years without it in hopes that we don't get hit by any serious storms for a couple of more years and the insurance companies come crawling back on their hands and knees begging for our business and lowering their rates to get it.

As long as property taxes are around, you will never own your house free and clear.

[poonther]

Go Gators, on May 7 2007, 03:29 PM, said:

As long as property taxes are around, you will never own your house free and clear.

Are there any states that do not have property taxes?  If so how to they compensate for this revenue loss?

[JFW657]

Go Gators, on May 7 2007, 02:29 PM, said:

As long as property taxes are around, you will never own your house free and clear.

Well that's just splitting hairs. No bank or other private sector entity owns a percentage of my home and compared to monthly mortgage payments, paying property taxes once a year is nothing.

All of which is beside the point anyway.

The point being, that because of these greed bag insurance companies that have made untold billions of dollars in profits over the years when there were no hurricanes battering Florida, then all of a sudden after having one bad year, they use it as a convenient excuse to rape their customers, I have to put my self at risk because I can't afford to pay their ridiculous rates.

I hope that in a few years it comes to pass that the hurricane scare was over estimated and companies like Allstate have to come crawling back on their hands and knees begging for our businees again.

And we collectively tell them to get bent.

[Rybak 187]

JFW657, on May 27 2007, 11:05 PM, said:

And we collectively tell them to get bent.

I doubt that will be happening if they come back and they are priced lower than all the other insurance companies.

[depechecureguyorl]

didn't PIP/No Fault Auto Insurance just recently expire in Florida? doesn't that mean if some uninsured jackass totals your car and they're at fault, YOU'RE responsible for the damages. if so, what's the point of having insurance?

Insurance is such a scam. You pay all this money "in case" something happens...shouldn't you get your money back "in case" something NEVER happens? don't get me started on medical insurance in this country...

[Go Gators]

depechecureguyorl, on Sep 12 2007, 10:42 AM, said:

didn't PIP/No Fault Auto Insurance just recently expire in Florida? doesn't that mean if some uninsured jackass totals your car and they're at fault, YOU'RE responsible for the damages. if so, what's the point of having insurance?

Insurance is such a scam. You pay all this money "in case" something happens...shouldn't you get your money back "in case" something NEVER happens? don't get me started on medical insurance in this country...

no, it expires Oct. 1 of this year.  PIP will still be available, just not mandatory.