More insurers mean more options for SC customers

Maintaining a free market for insurance companies, rather than creating a giant state insurer such as in Florida, has helped South Carolina bring in nearly a dozen new insurance companies to the state during the last year, the state's insurance chief said Tuesday.

In many cases they are lesser-known companies that have identified a niche in the market, rather than blanketing the state with policies from homeowners to auto.

By controlling their exposure, these companies say they can offer coverage to property owners in places where some of the country's largest insurers have shied away from in recent years.

The state Department of Insurance has approved nine new companies to do business in the state during the past year, with two more applications pending. Of those nine, seven are admitted carriers, which means their rates are regulated by the Insurance Department.

Further, four of the nine have said they will write property and casualty business along the coast. Of the two companies with licenses pending, one will write coastal coverage.

Two of the new companies will specialize in what have been some of the tightest sectors of the market in recent years — expensive homes and historical homes.

Read more in Wednesday's edition of The Post and Courier.