Alfa To Drop 73,000 Property Policies In Alabama

[Crabcake Johnny]

"Alfa Insurance, Alabama's second-largest writer of homeowners insurance, says it is dropping 73,000 policies over the next 16 months following the costliest storm in the company's history.

Severe weather, which included destructive tornadoes, battered Alabama on April 27. Alfa expects 25,000 claims from the storm, and while this total is less than half of what the company received from Hurricane Ivan in 2004, the severity of the tornado claims will make the late-April event Alfa's costliest ever, the company explains in a statement."

Alfa To Drop 73,000 Property Policies In Alabama | PropertyCasualty360

 

[AndreaSti]

Wow - was just expecting a lot of rate increases. That too I guess from other carriers.

 

[oicu812nbama]

suprise suuuprise. alfa was gettin rid of ho's before the storm

 

[russelltw]

Here in NC, two companies are doing the same. Allstate and Farm Bureau. They are cancelling a lot of policies. It's hard to write p/c in the Eastern side of the state. Too much hurricane exposure. When cancellation like this happen, I feel for those agents that are located in such areas. Not much they can do, especially if they are captive.

 

[oicu812nbama]

i almost bought a captive book. glad i didn't. geovera will do coastal counties in bama not sure about nc.

 

[1manshow]

Isn't this a golden opportunity for IA's with several carriers? Or is the market for new biz shut down?

 

[oicu812nbama]

someone will always take the risk. if they won't then we can start an insurance company. lol

 

[joshb]

Carriers have been doing this in Florida for the last several years. Its a gold mine for agencies like ours that have several carriers. It has brought a ton of start up companies, but theres nothing wrong with bringing new companies in to the marketplace if they have enough money.

 

[russelltw]

In NC, it's a mess east of I-95. None of the major players want that exposure. I had an agent who went indy then got a notice from several of his carriers that they were pulling out of his area. He was stuck.
Carriers are non-renewing policies, others are not writing any business with claims within the last 3-5 years. Those on the coast have it better. THey can exclude wind/hail thru NCJUA beach plan and write the fire through major carrier. Those agencies one county in from the coast have to write the wind/hail coverage, which is getting tougher and tougher to do. I don't do p/c any more, but I have many friends still in it. They are having to selectively cancel business off their book to keep other clients they want to keep (reminds me of some mafia movie where they make you cut off your own finger(s)). Like I said, it's a mess.