Florida's second-largest home insurer is growing again

Insurance Journal reports that Universal Property & Casualty, now Florida's second-largest property insurer behind State Farm Florida, is still climbing out of the state's insurance crisis. The company is adding policies, posting higher profits, and running a better combined ratio, which is the measure of whether an insurer collects more in premium than it pays out in claims and expenses.

That matters to you for one reason: carriers that are making money write more business, and carriers competing for your house is what brings a quote down. During the worst of the crisis there was often nothing to compare against. Insurers pulled out of Florida, some went insolvent, and Citizens became the only option for a lot of homeowners. That is not the market you are shopping in now. If your premium jumped in 2022 or 2023 and you have renewed on autopilot since, you are paying a hard-market price into a market that has loosened.

An independent agent can pull quotes from several Florida carriers side by side and tell you whether your current rate still holds up.