Insurance agents in Florida

What the law requires, what the local market looks like, and how to find an independent agent in Florida who has been reviewed by a person and holds to published practice standards.

The local market

Insurance in Florida

Florida is the most distinctive property market in the country. Hurricane deductibles are percentage-based and separate from the all-other-perils deductible, roof age drives eligibility more than any other single factor, and Citizens operates as a large residual market rather than a marginal one. On the auto side Florida is a no-fault state that does not require bodily injury liability from most drivers, which makes uninsured motorist coverage the single most consequential option on the quote.

Exposure

What drives claims here

These shape pricing, deductible structure and carrier appetite in Florida. Several are excluded from a standard homeowners policy and have to be written separately.

hurricane
flood
sinkhole
severe thunderstorm

Last resort

If the standard market will not write you

Florida operates a residual market plan for risks private carriers decline. These are a last resort — usually narrower coverage at a higher price — but they exist so a property is not left uninsured.

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation

State-created residual market insurer for residential and commercial property that the private market will not write.

Recourse

If something goes wrong with an insurer

Complaints about a carrier or an agent go to the Florida Department of Financial Services — Division of Consumer Services . It regulates every insurer and producer licensed in the state, and filing a complaint is free.

You can also check whether an agent is properly licensed there before you buy — something worth doing regardless of where you found them.

Coverage in Florida

Every line of coverage is regulated at the state level, so what a policy includes — and what it excludes — changes at the state line.

Florida counties

Rating territories, catastrophe exposure, fire protection class and windstorm zones are all set below the state line, which is why counties matter more than they look like they should. There are 67 in Florida.