During earnings conference calls last week leaders of two large personal lines insurers commented on affordability issues, highlighting the downward impact of Florida tort reforms on auto insurance prices.
“At a time when voters are clearly voting with their pocketbooks, this is really a golden opportunity for other states,” said Tom Wilson, president and chief executive officer of Allstate, suggesting that more states should “lean in” to the types of reform measures that took hold in Florida 2023.
“We really applaud the political leadership in Florida for taking on an important issue that’s a difficult issue, which is how do you lower suits against our customers for fender-bender accidents. Their courage is really helping Florida consumers save billions of dollars a year,” he said, referring to Florida government officials. “We’re happy, of course, because our customers are saving money. We will charge them less,” Wilson added.
“Tort reform may seem arcane from an inflation standpoint, but it has the potential to really help consumers deal with increased inflation…. It is just a terrific way to help customers,” he said.
At competitor Progressive, where CEO Tricia Griffith and Chief Financial Officer John Sauerland specifically reported that the company has put through two auto insurance rate reductions this year in Florida already, with another in the works for a December filing, Griffith said that she hadn’t seen law changes have such a consumer impact in her 38 years in the insurance business.
“I would never imagine these changes and how great they are for the benefit of Florida consumers,” she said, specifically commending Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky for work on a particular legislative change—House Bill 837 (2023 tort reform). “It really has had a profound and a momentous effect on the state of Florida’s insurance market,” she said.
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Sauerland led off the Progressive call with a lengthy discussion of Florida, after briefly noting some key financial metrics for the quarter—an 89.5 combined ratio, 10 percent premium growth and policies in force growth of 12 percent, equating to 4.2 million more policyholders, across all lines and states.
Still, Progressive’s 89.5 combined ratio was 0.5 points higher than in third-quarter 2024, reflecting the inclusion of a $950 million policyholder expense for to credit personal auto customers in Florida—Progressive’s largest market—in recognition of the fact that Progressive recorded profits more than 500 basis points better than Progressive’s filed and approved underwriting profit margin over a recent three year period.