How long does an insurance office hold cancelled files?

Question

We are located in florida.

Answer 1

we hold ours 5 yrs...

Answer 2

This is governed by your states insurance regulations and may vary accordingly.

In Texas we are required by state law to maintain our records for 5 years from the date of last activity.

the Law here indicates "Records", this however, does not necessitate the holding of actual paper files though. It can be just the data that is held for compliance.

Answer 3

Until I retired, my state insurance dept. required agency's to keep old files for 3 years. After I retired, one of the companies I wrote for began requiring 7 years.

The reason for this is that some idiot may want to file a claim long after the policy expired or canceled, for an accident or incident that happened while the policy was inforce. Or, he/she may want to try to make a claim for an occurrence which happened after the policy canceled or expired.

A few years ago, I was subpoened to a hearing, as the agent for a policyholder whose policy had canceled about 6 months before her accident. She had a forged insurance certificate which she showed to the investigating officer at the scene. I had to show proof that her policy had canceled. I did not have to go to court to witness the bench trial, so I don't know what her sentence or fine was.

Answer 4

It varies by office, and state law.  MOST hold them at least two years, but the company is required to hold copies for at least seven years (but not on site).  

Average, for agencies, is about 7, however with the whole electronic/paperless office thing, I'd guess it could be longer.   Then again, if the office got flooded and the documents were damaged, it could be shorter, as well.

Answer 5

7 years for the company I work for.

Answer 6

We hold our paper files for 7 years per our state law.  Progressive requires we hold the signed applications (on even active policies) for at least 7 years also because we don't send the originals to them, we issue policies online.

Now that we scan (started about a year ago), we will be able to keep files indefinitely.  We have a dedicated server just for scanning.