Florida Agents Optimistic About the Market – and They Don’t Fear the A.I. Reaper

Just as some California insurance agents are expressing grave concerns about the future of that state’s insurance market, a number of Florida agents feel like they’ve turned something of a corner.

“Things are getting better. They are,” said Gordon Gillespie, owner of Great Florida Insurance, an independent agency in Port Orange.

Gillespie was one hundreds of agents at the Florida Association of Insurance Agents annual convention in Orlando in June. Many said that while issues remain with some carriers, on commissions and underpaid claims, the Florida Legislature’s recent litigation reform measures have nudged the market back in the right direction, and should soon lead to new carriers and more-affordable coverage in the state.

“There’s some optimism now. I’m getting positive feedback,” Kyle Ulrich, president and CEO of the FAIA, said at the end of the three-day convention.

“The reforms were very meaningful. We’re starting to see new capital come into the state, and will see more by the end of the year, I believe,” said Peter Corrigan, president of Auto Club South Insurance Co. He spoke at a panel discussion at the FAIA conference’s general session on Friday.

The brewing optimism stands in sharp contrast to the feelings expressed in and after a California webinar with that state’s insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara. The American Agents Alliance warned of a crisis facing the Golden State and vented frustration that carriers can’t seem to raise rates more than 6.9% a year. Those limits, in the face of mounting losses from wildfires, has contributed to State Farm, Allstate and other carriers placing a pause on writing new business in California.

In Florida, where agents and carriers have walked through the coals of their own insurance crisis in the last three years, the growing sense of confidence also applies to predictions that artificial intelligence will someday supplant agents.

“Not in Florida. Florida’s too complicated for AI,” said Brian Chapman, owner of Chapman Insurance Group, one of the largest agencies in southwest Florida.

“No where else in this country is an independent agent needed more than in Florida,” Corrigan said. “We keep hearing that AI is going to take the place of the agent. It’s not happening in Florida.”