Drivers hit with policy increases

South Florida’s already high insurance rates skyrocket

Recently besieged by steep rate increases for health insurance and homeowner’s insurance, South Florida residents are getting zonked again this year with unexpectedly high auto insurance price hikes.

Rates are higher across the nation, up an average 8.5 percent over the year ending January 2018 and 7.5 percent the previous year, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s especially bad news for South Florida drivers, who are already paying among the highest rates in the nation.

People with clean driving records — meaning no tickets, no crashes, no insurance claims — are getting renewal notices with premium increases between $200 and $800 — “almost double in some cases,” said Corey Broder, a service agent at Seeman Holtz Property & Casualty Inc. The company, headquartered in Boca Raton, has about 77,000 clients in 11 states, Broder said.

Young adults and drivers with less-than-perfect records can expect to take the worst hits. One client, a single mom who bought her 19-year-old son a used car, recently saw her premium for a six-month term jump by $800 to $2,616, Broder said.

Experts are blaming the rate hikes on increased risks on the roads: Too many drivers are staring at their smartphones from behind the wheel. Cheap gas is causing us to log more miles, and the strong economy is putting more vehicles on the roads.

More crashes lead to more claims. More claims lead to higher costs for insurers. Higher costs for insurers must be recouped by charging everyone more.

In metro regions like South Florida, “high density development is putting more cars on the road, increasing likelihood of accidents,” said Lynne McChristian, Florida representative for the Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade group. “And distracted driving is a huge problem coast to coast.”

Statewide, the number of motor vehicle crashes increased 15 percent between 2014 and 2016, more than three times as fast as the state’s population rate grew during that time, according to data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Crashes with fatalities increased 27 percent — from 2,494 to 3,176.

Crashes and fatalities in the tricounty region increased at a slightly lower rate over the same period — crashes increased 12 percent and fatali-