ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A St. Petersburg-based insurance company is canceling at least a thousand mobile home policies, according to Mark Friedlander with the Insurance Information Institute.
In an email to 10 Tampa Bay, Friedlander said the company sent a notice in March to around 1,100 Florida manufactured/mobile home policyholders that it would be canceling their policies within 45 days "due to their deteriorating financial position."
"Impacted policyholders have been placed with either Citizens or a private insurer that writes mobile/manufactured home coverage," Friedlander stated in the email.
10 Tampa Bay has reached out to American Mobile Insurance Exchange but has not yet heard back.
Another report on the cancellation from Insurance Journal says the company would offer refunds of unearned premiums and subscriber surplus contributions on June 3 to help policyholders pay for replacement coverage.
Insurance Journal's report cites these cancellations from American Mobile Exchange as an indicator of Florida's mobile home market "falling apart." The company had been seen as a lifeline for part of the state's mobile home market, but financial issues within the company might have been building for months, according to Insurance Journal.
In a separate interview with WESH in Orlando, Friedlander said despite the challenges of securing insurance for mobile and manufactured homes in Florida, the average rate increases for the standard market are only running under 2%.
"Nine companies have filed for rate decreases," Friedlander told WESH.
In addition, Friedlander told 10 Tampa Bay American Mobile struck a deal with American Traditions Co. in late March to assume about 8,000 additional manufactured/mobile home policies.
"Coverage is continuous for these policyholders under the terms of their existing American Mobile policy," Friedlander stated in the email.
