Progressive to return nearly $1 billion to Florida auto insurance customers, DeSantis says

Progressive, one of the nation’s top auto insurance companies, plans to return nearly $1 billion to Florida policyholders, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday.

Policyholders will receive an average of $300, DeSantis said, that will show up either as a refund check or a credit toward coverage renewal.

DeSantis credited insurance reforms enacted by Florida’s Legislature in 2022 and 2023 with reducing auto insurers’ losses and making it possible for the state’s top five companies to request a combined 6.5% rate reduction in 2025, down from +4.3% in 2024 and +32.7% in 2023.

The reforms, he said, reduced insurance litigation by making it more difficult for plaintiffs attorneys to recover steep legal fees. The reforms followed years of rate increases resulting from claims disputes that saw legal fees far exceeding what was recovered for policyholders, he said.

“The dispute would be over, like, $50,000, and then the lawyer ends up getting like $350,000. Well, why would we want a system that encourages that?” he said.

In late July, Progressive stated in a filing to shareholders that, thanks to the reforms, premiums collected from its policyholders could exceed what’s allowable by Florida law over three years. If that turned out to be the case through 2025, the company said it might issue cash refunds or provide credits toward future premiums, the company said.

In September, Progressive projected that it will have collected $950 million in excess profit from 2022 to 2025 and planned to provide credits to its 2.7 million personal auto policyholders “active at December 31, 2025.”

DeSantis on Wednesday credited the company for taking a proactive approach to its obligation and not waiting for regulators to demand a roll back.

In a statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, a spokeswoman for the Office of Insurance Regulation said the office is aware that other auto insurance companies “may be approaching the statutory threshold” and urged them “to proactively report profits and credits to OIR before the Office orders them to do so.”

The statement continued, “Under Florida law, insurers must return excess profits if underwriting gains for the three most recent calendar-accident years combined exceed the anticipated underwriting profit plus five percent of earned premiums for those years.”

Customers of other top auto insurers might see similar credits, DeSantis said.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky “has been working with these companies, because given all the money that’s been saved with these reforms, now, looking back even a couple years, consumers now have an ability or have even a right to be able to get some of these refunds.”

The Office of Insurance Regulation identified the rest of the top five auto insurers as Geico, State Farm, Allstate and USAA.

Florida law also requires homeowner insurance companies to refund excess profits under a formula that requires a 10-year review.

DeSantis said if Florida manages to dodge a hurricane in 2025, rates that private insurers pay for reinsurance will decline. That would lead, he predicted, to homeowner premiums decreasing “in a rapid way.”

Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071 or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.

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