TAMPA, Florida — Have an offer for home insurance coverage from some company you’ve never heard of? You’re not alone.
As some bigger names in the industry have scaled back their business in the Sunshine State, Florida state regulators have approved several new insurers to help fill some of the void and take on policies from the state-backed insurer.
Right now, thousands of Citizens Property Insurance policyholders are getting offer letters to leave for the private market as the company aims to cut back on its growing number of policies and limit their risk exposure.
No company is planning to take more on than Slide.
“I’ve never heard of Slide Insurance company, who are these people, and are they going to be able to pay the claim if I have one,” said Jon Hamilton, who received an offer for coverage from the company this month.
It’s a fair question because it’s a fairly new company, headquartered in a Tampa corporate building.
“I formed Slide with the intent of growing our business in Florida at a time when other insurers were exiting,” Slide CEO Bruce Lucas said. “We've quickly grown to a top five homeowners’ insurance company in the state, headquartered in Tampa with over 200 employees.”
10 Tampa Bay talked with Lucas via Zoom on Wednesday; he founded the company in 2021. We asked Hamilton’s question to him.
“Look at our response to Hurricane Ian as a great result of our financial solvency, we have the highest claim closure rates in the state of Florida,” answered Lucas, adding they have an “A” rating from Demotech.
So what makes him so confident to start and scale a business in Florida’s shaky property insurance market? Lucas says legislative reforms are a big reason why.
“We have the confidence to continue to deploy our capital here and provide solutions to policyholders,” he explained, adding that being a newer company means they aren't bogged down with what he calls "legacy issues" related to past claims and frivolous lawsuits that experts say have hampered the market as a whole over the last decade.
Slide has just under 200,000 customers right now and has offers out to tens of thousands more, including more than 80,000 customers who will soon be dropped by Farmers Insurance who earlier this year announced an exit from the state.
“We're providing an option; we're giving guaranteed coverage. Consumers are free to either accept that or not. But we're making this process very easy,” Lucas added.
Offers from Slide and other companies like also-Tampa-based Loggerhead are not binding — you do have the option to look around once you get a non-renewal notice.
"There will be other opportunities in the Florida market, so it's up to each individual impacted policyholder what direction they want to go in," says Mark Friedlander with the Insurance Information Institute.
Friedlander adds the fact that Slide and other newer insurers are able to offer policies is a bright spot for the market moving forward.
"The fact that companies want to come to Florida and write business, shows they feel strongly about the legislative measures that have passed, and it's created an environment for new companies to operate successfully in Florida," Friedlander said.