Farmers Insurance policyholders in Florida: What you can do next

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Floridians are still feeling the ripple effects of the state’s unstable insurance market months after lawmakers took up the issue in Tallahassee.

On Tuesday, Farmers Insurance said it will not renew existing policies in Florida, forcing tens of thousands of customers to look elsewhere for coverage.

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Company officials said Tuesday the move to end its property, auto, and umbrella policies was necessary to reduce the amount of risk the company faced.

Ashley Edlund of Action News Jax’s Orlando sister station WFTV asked where people should turn and what they should expect to happen next.

Thomas Cotton, an Insurance agent with Hugh Cotton Insurance, said one of the places people can go is state-backed Citizens Property Insurance, designed to be the market of last resort.

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“You have to exhaust every opportunity you have to place the homeowner’s policy in the private market,” Cotton said. “If you cannot place your homeowner’s policy in the private market, or if the private market pricing is at least 25% more of what the Citizens pricing is, then you can get into Citizens.”

Cotton said some Farmers policyholders may still get a renewal if their next renewal is in the next 60 to 90 days.

“There is a possibility that the state may limit or restrict their ability to cancel or non-renew those policies,” he said.

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