Pinellas County Homeowners, Need to

know, if you are a State Farm Customer

Gov. Charlie Crist rejected a bill  that would let insurance companies charge whatever they wish for property insurance in Florida. It lacked enough consumer protections.

In Florida State Farm will abandon the state’s property insurance market, company officials said.

What happens now for State Farm’s policyholders inPinellas County? Nothing -- yet.

State Farm could be bluffing.  Pinellas County and the entire Florida market is too large for them to walk away. ...
Meantime, here are some points for State Farm policyholders to remember:

* State Farm might not drop any policies for 18 months. The Office of Insurance Regulation and State Farm must report on their negotiations by July 15 to the Department of Administrative Hearings, which will set a hearing if there is no agreement. There are more appeal options after that. OIR says it could be 18 months before State Farm starts dropping policyholders.

* So far, “dropping” means not renewing. State Farm has said it intends to drop its 900,000-plus property insurance customers over two years on their annual renewal dates rather than terminate policies early.

* Warnings to precede nonrenewals. State Farm will notify policyholders 180 days before their coverage ends.

* State Farm agents can’t write policies for other private insurers. This remains a bone of contention for regulators, who are pressing State Farm to reverse this rule now that it is leaving.

State Farm does allow its agents to transfer policyholders to Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer of last resort. The company also will transfer policyholders to “take out” companies that agree to cover them in lieu of Citizens. Glover said State Farm agents will advise existing policyholders about other coverage options.