Some of the interesting changes in the public adjuster trade are the increased requirements to obtain and maintain a license. This past legislative year, the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (FAPIA) lobbied for and obtained an apprentice period as well as specific continuing education requirements for public insurance adjusters. Some may be surprised that FAPIA pushed for this legislation, but there was an obvious need for it.
Continue Reading...Last week I attended the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA) Annual Convention in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Tuesday I spent most of the afternoon with the Board of Directors for the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (FAPIA) in Ft. Lauderdale. I have been going to NAPIA conventions since I first spoke to that organization in 1985, and I helped form FAPIA in 1993. If there is one trend apparent in both organizations, it is growth. There may be a number of reasons for this including an ever increasing tendency of insurers to not pay benefits which fully reimburse policyholders for their losses.
Continue Reading...Best is reporting that State Farm continues to retreat from the insurance business in Mississippi. The headline suggests that State Farm merely canceled policies, but the article reveals that State Farm canceled 900 policies, and changed the terms of 5,000 more customers by refusing to insure for wind peril. As I have explained, our largest insurance carriers are getting out of the risk business.
Continue Reading...The Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times ran front page articles regarding a surcharge being made to all policyholders in Florida. The cost for a typical policyholder with a $1,000 to $1,500 premium is $30 to $40. This morning I spent nearly $90 to fill my car's gas tank. Not that long ago, it cost about $60. So, to put that insurance surcharge in perspective, many of us pay the same additional amount as the annual surcharge every week or so when we fill our gas tanks. The story did not deserve front page coverage. What does deserve to be on the front page is an article informing people what the assessment would be if a Hurricane Katrina struck Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa. The assessment would be hundreds, even thousands, of dollars tacked on to every auto, boat and homeowner's policy.
Kevin McCatry, of the Office of Insurance Regulation, announced that six fairly obscure insurance companies have taken the insurance for 100,000 risks which were previously underwritten by Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. The good news for consumers is that their new insurance carriers are insuring them for the same or better coverage and for the same or better price. What a deal!! Or is it?
Continue Reading...Tropical Storm Arthur starts off the 2008 hurricane season with some early inning excitement. In my line of work, I am always asked during the summer months how many hurricanes there will be and where they will hit. The newspapers are full of stories from meteorologic prognosticators regarding these events. I simply reply it is a guess: the odds are a major hurricane will form in the Gulf of Mexico and there may be an Atlantic Coast hurricane as well. The truth is nobody knows. But the fact that nobody knows does not mean that you should not be vigilant, especially along the Gulf Coast areas in June and July.
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