California-headquartered Inszone Insurance Services has continued its hot streak of acquisitions with the purchase of Coastal Insurance Services in Florida and affiliated Optimal Insurance Solutions.
The acquisition marks Inszone’s first step into the Florida market, the company said in a news release. Coastal Insurance was founded in 2008 by Rolando Gonzalez. He later established Optimal Insurance in Illinois, and the two agencies were combined in 2024.
The agencies’ teams are likely to remain in place under the Inszone ownership, the companies said.
Inszone, founded in 2002, led the country with 17 merger and acquisition deals in the first quarter of this year, according to OPTIS Partners. Read more here. Last week, Inszone announced it also had acquired Smith & Co. Insurance in Arkansas, and James Vozar agency in Michigan.
Inszone offers commercial and personal insurance coverage, as well as benefits.
Also in Florida, Shepherd Insurance announced it is moving its office from Sarasota to Pendery Place in the Bradenton/Lakewood Ranch area.
The Sarasota office saw the coming together of five agencies over the past 13 years through acquisitions, making the Bradenton move a natural next step in the firm’s long-term growth plan for the Florida market, Shepherd leadership said.
Shepherd, one of the larger U.S. agency groups, has its headquarters in Indiana and now has seven Florida agency offices.
Most people in the Florida insurance industry probably know that is not true. But a number of recent websites and postings by Florida plaintiffs’ law firms and even those of a few insurance agencies have suggested otherwise, leading to some confusion and questions about the state’s personal injury protection law.
“Florida No Fault Insurance Repeal 2026,” reads a search-engine headline from the Aronberg & Aronberg law firm website. “Florida Senate Votes to End No-Fault Insurance,” reads another, posted on the Brooks Law Group site.
“If you have owned a vehicle in the Sunshine State, you are familiar with Personal Injury Protection (PIP). But as we move through 2026, that foundation is undergoing a seismic shift,” notes the website for Jessica Lyng Insurance, an agency in the Florida Panhandle.
Florida lawmakers in recent years have, in fact, considered repealing the personal injury protection, or PIP law. But it passed the Legislature only once, in 2021, when Gov. Ron DeSantis famously vetoed the bill. And more bills were introduced in the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions.
But those bills died in committee, according to information from the Florida Senate and the House of Representatives, and from lobbyists, officials and others who have followed legislation closely.
“Nothing happened with PIP this year,” said Lisa Miller, former Florida deputy insurance commissioner.
