STATE FARM OF FLORIDA 8.6 PERCENT RATE REQUEST APPROVED

The Florida Department of Insurance approved an average statewide premium rate hike of 8.6 percent for State Farm of Florida, the largest insurer of homes in Florida, insuring one out of every five homes. For some South Florida residents and in some parts of the state, however, the increases could top more than 40 percent, depending on the location.

To protect consumers who will see the increases, State Farm and insurance regulators agreed to cap increases at 42.5 percent, regardless of the rate approved by the state.

Jose Soto, State Farm spokesman told the Miami Herald about 138 policyholders across the state could see premium increases that hit that upper limit.

In Miami-Dade County, the average increase for homeowners in coastal areas is 37.9 percent. Yet policyholders in Hialeah and other western sections of the county could see no increase at all.

The same applies for Broward Countyy: possibly no increase for West Broward and an average 39.7 percent hike for residents in the mid-section of the county.

More than a dozen companies have increased their rates since the storms. Nationwide Insurance of Florida, the state’s fourth largest home insurer, Citizens, Southern Family, Metropolitan Property and Casualty, and Sentry Insurance were granted double-digit increases in some parts of the state. Nearly two dozen other insurers have rate increase petitions pending.