Safeco announced it is leaving Florida's homeowners market, saying it could not compete there.
The Seattle-based insurer said it informed the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation yesterday of its plans to stop renewing homeowners insurance policies beginning in 2006, after this year's hurricane season.
The company said its decision only applies to residential property policies, including homeowners, dwelling fire, renters and condominium insurance. This represents one-eighth of the company's business in the state, Safeco said.
But, the company said it will remain in the state to write other personal lines such as auto, watercraft, recreational vehicles, and motorcycle and umbrella insurance as well as commercial policies. The company said it has doubled the number of Florida personal auto insurance customers it has.
"After months of careful consideration, we concluded that Safeco cannot effectively compete in Florida's unique and complex personal property market with our standardized product approach," said Jim Swegle, Safeco's vice president of Personal Lines Property.
The company said it plans to stop offering new personal property policies on July 26 but will wait until the beginning of 2006 to stop renewals. Safeco said it represents slightly more than half-of-one percent of the state's personal property market, approximately 30,000 customers.
Mr. Swegle said he did not expect the company's decision to have a broad impact on the state's market. The company said it intends to honor its commitments to current policyholders.
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