Slide Assumes 86,000 Farmers Policies in Florida, Offers Appointments to Agents

Tampa-based Slide Insurance, which has made a practice of assuming Florida policies from other insurers in the last two years, said it has acquired renewal rights to 86,000 homeowner policies from Farmers Insurance.

Farmers said in June that it would stop writing new HO coverage in Florida, then announced further cutbacks, including non-renewals, a month later as it manages underwriting losses around the country. Farmers officials said in August that the national carrier was laying off 11% of its workforce – about 2,400 employees.

Slide, headed by former Heritage Insurance CEO Bruce Lucas, said its assumptions from Farmers do not include auto, renters or umbrella policies. The assumptions are for policies set to renew in February 2024. Farmers agents in Florida also will be offered appointments with Slide.

“We remain bullish on Florida’s insurance market and believe the market is ripe for an innovator like Slide,” Lucas said in a statement. “The recent reforms are working and the Florida insurance market is stabilizing,” he added, referring to the 2022 legislation that ended one-way attorney fees and assignments of benefits in property insurance claims.

Slide is still a relative newcomer to the market but has made quite a splash. It was founded in 2021 then grew quickly, partly by taking on some 147,000 Florida policies from insolvent St. Johns Insurance Co. The move angered some other insurance company executives who said they had not been offered an opportunity to assume the business.

This year, Slide assumed some 91,000 policies from United Property & Casualty shortly before it was placed into receivership, and then offered to take out some 100,000 policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s state-created residual carrier.

This summer, Slide said it finalized a $100 million catastrophe bond and secured $35 million in additional capital. The company also has obtained plenty of reinsurance. Slide held more than 175,000 policies in force in Florida before the recent Citizens take-out offer, the company has said.

Florida’s chief financial officer said in the Slide news release that the latest round of policy assumptions is good news for Florida homeowners who lost coverage from Farmers.

“It also demonstrates that carriers are finding more opportunities, in Florida’s insurance environment, after the reforms we enacted,” CFO Jimmy Patronis said. “The coverage that Slide will provide will make policyholders’ lives easier – and we’ll continue working to attract more carriers to Florida.”

Topics Florida Agencies Agribusiness