Car insurance rates drop in Florida following legal reforms

By Alexa Velez

Florida drivers may be seeing some relief on their auto insurance bills, as the state reports a significant drop in rates following recent legal reforms aimed at reducing expensive lawsuits.

According to Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky, the state’s top five auto insurers, Progressive, GEICO, Allstate, State Farm, and USAA, are cutting rates by an average of 6.5% this year.

The rate reductions come after years of big increases. In 2023, auto insurance rates in Florida spiked by more than 31%. Yaworsky credited a decline in litigation and legal abuse for the change, saying the state’s reforms are stabilizing the market and helping insurers pay out less in claims. That’s led to a drop in Florida’s auto liability loss ratio: from 80.5% in 2022 to 53.3% this year, the lowest in the nation.

“We’re seeing litigation decrease dramatically,” Yaworsky said. “We’re seeing kind of that abusive, maybe frivolous litigation that was taking place in our marketplace is moving out of it.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis agreed at a press conference today, saying that Florida’s legal reforms are the main reason the state is seeing lower rates.

“Auto insurance is still spiking nationwide,” DeSantis said. “The reason why you’re seeing it go the opposite way in Florida is because we did the litigation reform.”

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