State's private insurers get weak grade
A recent crop of small, in-state property insurance companies with no record of withstanding a major hurricane is raising questions at one rating agency, Reuters reported.
Weiss Ratings recently awarded the companies a median grade of C-minus, and even without a major storm to drive up claims, 11 of them have failed in Florida since 2006, state records say. The weak grade comes as Florida seeks to revive its private home insurance market after almost a decade without a hurricane, with homeowners pouring $6 billion a year in premiums into private insurers.
Weiss rated 48 Florida-based private companies that take in two-thirds of all comprehensive homeowners property insurance premiums paid by Florida homeowners. Of those, 19 received ratings of D-plus or worse, reflecting high risk to customers.
"This is an accident waiting to happen," said Gavin Magor, a senior financial analyst with Weiss, based in Jupiter.
Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute trade association, said all the companies meet state regulations, noting other rating agencies gave higher grades.
Times staff