Coral in the News Native Floridian Starts Insurance Co.

CORAL IN THE NEWS

Native Floridian, Susan Straker, Starts Insurance Company

By Jay Meisel
Hometown News
Posted December 9, 2005

Susan Straker, the president of Coral Insurance, didn’t start out wanting to be an insurance company executive.

Ms. Straker, whose family dates back three generations in Florida, obtained a degree in education from the University of Florida and a master’s degree from Florida Atlantic University.

But after spending time living in France and working for insurance companies and intermediaries, she decided she wanted to make insurance her career.

In 2003, when many insurance companies were looking to pull out of hurricane insurance in Florida, Ms. Straker and a group of investors started

Coral Insurance, which is headquartered in Hollywood, Fla.

One of the reasons, Ms. Straker decided to open Coral is that in Florida “one of the greatest needs is good homeowners’ insurance,” she said. With the housing market booming, she said, the need for quality homeowners’ insurance has rapidly grown.

She previously owned a managing general agency insurance agency that wrote more than $30 million of insurance for condominium associations.

In 2003, she sold that book of insurance to an insurance wholesaler.

Ms. Straker said that moving from the MGA world, where the agency was totally dependent upon a carrier, to “becoming” an insurance company, was both challenging and worthwhile.

Starting the insurance company was a task in itself, she said, as the state has strict requirements, along with a lot of paperwork.

“It took a year and a half to get all the paperwork done,” Ms. Straker said. “It was quite a process.”

Finally, she said, Coral Insurance received authorization to transact insurance business in Florida in March 2004. Since then, Coral has provided homeowners’ insurance in seven counties, including St. Lucie and Martin counties. Other counties are Palm Beach, Broward, Dade, Collier and Lee.

At this point, she said, the company has no plans to expand beyond those counties.

“We’re trying to do a good job in the counties where we are,” she said.

Since Coral opened, it has established a business relationship with 150 insurance agencies, including Deakins-Carroll Insurance Agency and Armellino Insurance, both in Stuart; AMAC Insurance Agency LLC in Hobe Sound, Rick Carroll Insurance Agency in Jensen Beach; and Best of Florida Insurance and Pellerin Insurance, both in Port St. Lucie.

Her company focuses on writing insurance for newer homes, she said.

And that resulted in few claims following Hurricane Wilma.

Coral doesn’t have any plans to provide other types of insurance, such as automobile, Ms. Straker said.

“We’re trying to keep it simple and do something we know how to do well,” she said. “Our goal is to become a regional insurance carrier well grounded in the area in which we write business, partner with a small number of agencies and provide excellent service to Florida homeowners.”