Florida Needs Auto Insurance Reform

With PIP about to expire in October, many are confused as to what this means for auto insurance customers in the state. Florida was one of 14 states that had no fault auto insurance requirements for their drivers, and now it looks as though they will no longer have to have them either.

Florida’s auto insurance problems have been going on since the ‘70’s when they first brought in no fault auto insurance because the car insurance industry wanted it. However, it has now gotten to the stage that even the auto insurance industry doesn’t want it either.

With this requirement going away, and the fact that Florida is only one of three states that do not require bodily injury liability insurance for most of their drivers, most people believe that they will not have to carry auto insurance at all any more. The state does require that drivers have auto insurance, for they need to be able to pay for damage to the other person’s car – but not the person themselves.

Ultimately what will happen is those that can afford it will add on to their current auto insurance coverage to make up for all of the uninsured drivers that will now be out there, and will end up paying much more than they would have before the PIP rule expired.

The biggest problem people have is that the legislature seems more than happy to let PIP expire, but are not looking for another solution in the interim. It seems that they should have some sort of plan in place before it expires, but no one seems to be working on it.

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