Consumer dissatisfaction with property and casualty insurance companies in Florida appears to have surged, with complaints more than doubling over the last five years and projected to reach a new peak in 2025. However, some in the insurance industry argue that the figures may be misleading, as the complaint data includes mediation cases and assistance calls, which may not constitute formal complaints.

The Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) provided data to Insurance Journal indicating that complaints from homeowners and other residential policyholders across 326 insurance companies rose from 10,219 in 2020 to over 23,400 in 2024. If the current pattern holds, 2025 could see that number surpass 31,000—bringing the total to nearly 95,000 complaints since 2020.

Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Co., one of Florida’s largest private insurers, received the highest volume of complaints—roughly 16,170 over the five-year period. That’s far more than Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s largest property insurer by policy count, despite Citizens holding around 200,000 more policies than Universal.

American Integrity Insurance and State Farm Florida Insurance followed with approximately 4,700 complaints each. Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance and Security First Insurance rounded out the top six, with around 3,900 and 3,600 complaints, respectively.

The complaint data covers most types of residential policies: homeowners (HO), condominium unit owners, dwelling fire, renters, mobile homes, windstorm, and flood insurance. About 88,000 of the complaints were related to HO policies. The bulk of these were claim-related issues, while a smaller number pertained to premiums, agents, or adjusters. DFS did not release specific details or descriptions of the complaints.

Even with questions surrounding the nature of the data, many within the industry agree that policyholder frustration is increasing. Factors such as rising premium costs, media coverage highlighting denied or underpaid claims, and concerns about insurers shifting profits contribute to the growing discontent. Additionally, new laws limiting lawsuits—enacted in 2023—may have prompted more consumers to seek out-of-court options, thus raising complaint counts. Over the past four years, three major hurricanes have caused widespread flood and wind damage, further intensifying the strain on insurance claims processes.

“Flooding events like Helene and Milton in 2024 were also wind events,” explained Charles Nyce, chair of the Risk Management and Insurance Department at Florida State University. “Homeowners often don’t realize that wind-driven water damage is considered flood-related and isn’t covered by typical homeowners insurance, which complicates claims and leads to more complaints.”

The topic drew renewed attention in February when Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky issued a warning to insurers, particularly those handling flood insurance, citing an uptick in consumer complaints. He stressed that improperly denying storm claims due to concurrent causation would not be tolerated. This prompted Insurance Journal to request DFS’s full complaint records.

The DFS data confirms that while flood insurance complaints have been increasing annually, they still totaled just over 500 from 2020 to 2024. However, by early April 2025, flood-related complaints were already spiking and may exceed 470 by year’s end.

The bulk of complaints still focus on standard residential policies. Universal’s complaints, for instance, fluctuated but rose from 1,525 in 2020 to 3,866 in 2024.

Universal’s general counsel, Travis Miller, questioned the integrity of the figures, arguing that they don’t accurately reflect consumer dissatisfaction. He noted that Florida’s complaint data includes mediation cases and basic assistance inquiries—categories not typically considered formal complaints in other states.

Although mediation often begins due to consumer dissatisfaction, Miller pointed out that litigation—which often starts similarly—is not included in the complaint totals.

Without counting mediation, DFS’s figures show a much smaller increase in complaints: from about 4,000 in 2020 to 4,250 in 2024. If current trends continue, 2025 may see nearly 7,600 such cases. However, DFS doesn’t track how many complaints end up in both mediation and litigation, leading to potential double-counting.

“We don’t know of any other state where consumer dispute resolution processes like mediation are lumped in as complaint data,” Miller said. “It creates a misleading impression of Florida’s insurance landscape, which we have to explain repeatedly to out-of-state regulators and organizations.”

DFS did not fully justify including mediation in the totals. “Mediation is part of the consumer assistance service offered by the Division of Consumer Services,” said William Patrick, DFS’s deputy communications director. “Litigation, on the other hand, is a court matter in which the Department does not intervene.”

Many calls from policyholders are resolved by the department without needing to escalate the issue, Patrick added.

The DFS also tracks “violation letters,” issued when a complaint suggests an insurer may have broken the law. These rose steadily from 2020 to 2023 but have since declined.

By contrast, other Southern states report fewer complaints. Georgia, with about half Florida’s population, handles around 10,000 to 11,000 insurance-related complaints annually. Texas, which has about one-third more people than Florida, reported roughly 5,500 complaints involving residential insurers in 2024—up from just over 2,000 in 2020.

Miller also claimed Universal’s internal metrics suggest a drop in “true” complaints from 2021 to 2024, although he didn’t share specific figures. He emphasized that many entries in the DFS data are minor issues, like consumers requesting a contact number for their insurer.

Nyce pointed out that comparing Universal to Citizens may not be appropriate. “Citizens dominates the tri-county region around Miami, where recent hurricanes haven’t hit,” he explained. “Most storms have struck the Gulf Coast and Panhandle, where Citizens has less presence. So companies with higher market shares in those areas naturally face more claims and potential complaints.”

Miller and other industry representatives questioned whether it’s realistic for major insurers—many with solid reputations for claims handling—to experience such sharp increases in real complaints. He noted that scrutiny by regulators and lawmakers has pushed many companies to improve claim processing and timeliness.

Additionally, many insurers, including Universal, now focus on tracking lawsuits as a more accurate measure of customer dissatisfaction. Since lawmakers ended one-way attorney fees and tightened bad-faith claim standards in late 2022, litigation against insurers in Florida has dropped significantly.

Given the tumultuous changes in Florida’s insurance environment over the past decade, a rise in complaints isn’t surprising, experts say.

“With legislative changes, insurers might be stricter during the claims process, resulting in more complaints,” Nyce said. “Add in more storm damage, more complex claims involving both wind and water, and rising premiums—naturally, consumers are going to be more dissatisfied.”

Until homeowners feel that their insurance premiums reflect fair value, he added, complaints will likely keep coming.