Getting, Keeping Or Paying For Fire Insurance Is The Next Hurdle
Written by 991KBU on February 11, 2019
California property owners are having a hard time renewing their fire insurance policies.
The Wall Street Journal reports insurance companies are canceling some policies and refusing to sell new ones … or applying for rate increases … in fire risk areas.
Large insurers have filed to raise home-insurance rates .
in the past six months.
Travelers Cos. isn’t renewing some of its California home policies … to reduce its significant wildfire exposures.
Allstate has trimmed about 50% of its policy holders in California to reduce wildfire risk.
And the Wall Street Journal reports that Allstate and other insurers have also been stricter about requiring their policyholders to clear brush from around their homes to reduce fire risk.
The California FAIR Plan is rthe satate insurance pool … the state insurer of last resort.
And it told the WSJ it would implement an average 20.3% price increase in April,
Wildfires in California in 2017 and 2018 cost insurers more than $23 billion, according to the California Department of Insurance.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the vast majority of California homeowners are still insured by standard insurers like State Farm and Farmers Insurance.
But growing numbers are buying insurance from surplus carriers that specialize in unusual risks.
That option that is available only to homeowners rejected by traditional insurers.
Those are much more expensive.
One woman told the newspaper her $1200 per year home insurance policy was cancelled …. she had to buy a specialty policy … and the premium went up to 25 hundred dollars this year.
Next year … four thousand dollars.
People who lost their houses to the fire are given a little protection by Calfornia laws.
They must be offered at least one annual renewal … even if they suffered a total loss in the wildfires.
Some of last year’s wildfire victims from last year will be getting their notices of non-renewal are just starting to arrive.
Residents who lost their homes in the Thomas Fire area of Ventura County … for example … may be eligible for policy cancellations now.
WSJ article (paywall alert): https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-homeowners-face-higher-prices-for-a-scarce-commodity-wildfire-insurance-11549803600
