Florida insurance company drops thousands of homeowners in SWFL ahead of hurricane season

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With just weeks before the start of hurricane season, thousands of homeowners in Southwest Florida are being dropped by their home insurance companies.The letters from ASI-Progressive started going out this week. The company reported last year it planned to shed about 100,000 policies.John Cunniff of Bonita Springs said he had received one of the letters and immediately began looking for replacement coverage."It simply said they were reducing their hurricane exposure," Cunniff said.He said many people are in the same boat, and in many cases, people are being forced to pay more for coverage."I think that is really a big problem for a lot of people," Cunniff said.The letters are catching many people by surprise, although Progressive announced a year ago they were cutting back in Florida because of the risks.DOWNLOAD the free NBC2 News app for the latest news and weather alerts in Southwest Florida.Doug Nellans is an agent with The Insurancenter in Fort Myers and said he has hundreds of clients who are impacted by the move."Fortunately ASI- Progressive has partnered with another insurance company to effectively rescue a lot of the policyholders and offer them an alternative policy before the expiration date," Nellans said.While many policyholders are concerned about sticker shock when they go with a new company, Nellans said it shouldn't be an immediate concern for folks who are being picked up by Loggerhead Insurance."Loggerhead understands this and they have pledged to make every possible attempt to reduce or remove that sticker shock at least for the initial stages of this transition," Nellans explained.However, many policyholders will have to find another company, and it may not be so easy as Cunniff said he had few choices."Coverage was very limited," he said.With just 34 days until the start of hurricane season, many people are scrambling to make sure they have a company in place when their policy expires.Progressive is expected to continue sending out more of these non-renewal notices in May and June.SIMILAR COVERAGE: