One of the most asked questions for sure that we are presented with on an almost daily basis.

First things first, as agents we have nothing to do with rate increases or decreases. People with a lot higher pay scale who work for the company decide these issues with the help of actuarials locked in a room looking at boring statistics all day.

A lot of people ask if raising rates is legal and how does the insurance company get away with it? The Insurance industry is one of the most regulated indutries in the country. In order to raise rates or even change verbage on a policy the insurance companies need to go the state and show them all the work that the geek actuarials locked in a room have done to show them why they need more money.

Things that could cause a rate increase are of course accidents, tickets,address changes, and age of home or drivers.If there is a general rate increase for your zip code, everyone feels it no matter what.

Rates and companies are pretty cyclical especially in Florida. Sometimes an auto carrier will look to grab some market share and relax underwriting guidelines to write new policies. Usually in a short period of time after increased claims volume they tighten the guidelines and raise the rates back to what they should be.

As an independent agent we have access to multiple homeowners and auto carriers so if someone’s rate goes up we have the ability to shop it with different carriers. We are always happy to compare and shop rates from other companies and usually we can wind up saving people some money.

Recently we saved someone with a home who was paying $12,000 a year in premium almost $4000 just by shopping it with different carriers and verifying updates with an inspection. Not bad and it makes us look good too