FL's "insurer of last resort" was the cheapest one. What am I missing?

Question

Same disclaimer as last time, I don't own FL property, I just build data tools and got into the public insurance data.

I always assumed Citizens, the state-backed insurer of last resort, was the expensive fallback you land on when nobody else will take you. So I pulled OIR's approved-rate comparison for a standardized sample home and ranked every carrier in one county. It came out backwards from what I expected.

Broward, the same sample home:

Citizens ~$5,500 (cheapest on the board)

Homeowners Choice ~$5,600

then a jump to the brand names: State Farm ~$9,900, Heritage ~$13,500, Monarch ~$14,000, Security First ~$15,600

So the "last resort" was the cheapest, and some well-known private carriers ran 2 to 3x more for the exact same house.

Two honest caveats. This is OIR's standardized sample home, not a live quote on your address, and your real number moves with roof age, wind mitigation, and deductible.

Here's where I'm genuinely curious, because the data can't tell me: is that cheap Citizens number actually available on coastal or older homes, or do those get pushed to the expensive end anyway? And for anyone who did land on Citizens, did you later get depopulated off it into something pricier?

Greg Scott · Answer

You are not comparing apples to apples.

You can buy a high end computer for graphic design for $10,000 or a handheld calculator for $2.  Both will allow you to do some math.  One is very simple and the other much more powerful.

Jared Townsend · Answer

Citizens is often the cheapest option because the rates are set and subsidized by the state. They often have more exclusions and only offer $100k liability as well. Short term rentals are not allowed.

You will most likley be moved from Citizens within your first year as many carriers are completing 'take-outs' and offering rates within 20% of your Citizens rate. So you're not going to get forced from a $5k rate to a $15k rate.

Ultimately I'm not sure how useful this is. There are so many variables that go into a rate that this analysis is next to useless. For example, I know that Security First offers very generous discounts for Wind Mitigation Reports - if you have a good one then their rate could come down to compete with Citizens & Homeowners Choice.

Stuart Udis · Answer

As Greg suggested this is a half-baked analysis. Are there the same exclusions? Same coverage limits? How does each carrier respond to negative loss run reporting?  Same mandatory loss-control recommendations that must be completed to maintain coverage? The list is far longer of factors that influence coverage pricing and available carriers.

Hikaru Yamagishi · Answer

Really appreciate everyone taking the time to break this down.

The low price is the signal, not the deal. Thinner coverage, weaker claims service, a bigger deductible doing the quiet work. The two cheapest being the two worst on claims fits that. And with glide-path you often don't keep the cheap carrier anyway, a take-out moves you whether you wanted it or not.

Where I spend my time is a step earlier: I pull every FL rate filing into one place so I can see which carriers are moving months before it hits a renewal. It won't tell you who handles a claim well, that part's on you all. Happy to share where I pull it if anyone wants it.

Hikaru Yamagishi · Answer

Fair points, and coverage differences do make it apples to oranges. Price alone isn't the whole picture.

Still, one thing nags at me. The two cheapest names on that list, Citizens and Homeowners Choice, are the same two you're calling the worst to deal with. That is probably not a coincidence. The price might be quietly telling you what the claim is going to feel like.

So maybe price and service aren't separate things to weigh. Maybe the price is already the warning.

What I can't tell from the outside: is Citizens cheap because the service is bad, or just because the state caps their annual rate increases (the glide path)?

Steve Smith · Answer

True about apples to oranges, and the companies are not the same. Citizens are impossible to deal with, they sill owe me $800 from about 8 years ago. Homeowners choice has horrible reviews, and use their own incompetent contractors to fix claims. You're better off uninsured than with the above two.

FL's "insurer of last resort" was the cheapest one. What am I missing?

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