FORT MYERS, Fla. — If you haven’t shopped around for insurance lately, you might be missing out on some serious savings.
Kevin Yeager from Fort Myers discovered this firsthand, saving over $4,000 by switching his insurance.
He says he was so excited, he took to Facebook to share the good news with others.
“Not sure if you shopped your home or vehicle insurance recently, but things have changed in Florida,” Yeager said in-part in a Facebook post. “I just saved over $4,000 shopping my insurance and made no changes to either policy.”
Yeager’s agent, Tyler Smith from Brightway Insurance, confirmed the savings, noting Yeager’s old policies weren’t the best fit.
“With home and auto, with home in particular, there’s been a lot of stabilization this year,” Smith said. “With that stabilization, it’s brought a lot more competition into the market.”
In Florida, State Farm filed for a 10% rate decrease, translating to about $400 in savings per vehicle.
Progressive announced nearly a billion dollars in refunds for Florida drivers.
Citizens Property Insurance, Florida’s insurer of last resort, reported a 42% drop in policy count since January.
Smith said he believes state reforms have led to these positive changes, including the elimination of assignment of benefits and one-way attorney fees.
“They got rid of AOB, which is assignment of benefits, where many homeowners were unknowingly assigning their rights over to the contractors,” Smith said. “The claims would just skyrocket and as a result, you know, that would trickle down into premium increases.”
In Southwest Florida, Smith said rate hikes have significantly slowed, decreasing from 7.6% in 2023 to 1.6% in 2024.
Yeager is seeing those benefits firsthand.
“Perfect time for relief,” Yeager said. “We just got our property tax bill in the mail, which that went up a lot, especially for the holidays coming up.”
For those looking to save like Yeager, Smith advised that it costs nothing to check for better insurance deals.
“Just sit down with someone you trust,” he said. “If you’ve been with the same company for years, chances are there’s a better deal out there.”
Be smart, WINK Smart.