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California Wildfires Changing the Insurance Market

Affluent physicians want to live in beautiful locations — high up on a hillside with a view, where their backyard investigates open space, or in the middle of a lush green forest… 

Due to the high number of devastating wildfires California has experienced in the past two years, homeowner insurance coverage is getting harder to place and sometimes next to impossible to obtain in these high-risk locations. 

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More frequently, insurance companies are casting a wary eye on Californians who live in wildfire-prone areas, choosing not to renew policies or drop some homeowner coverage altogether. It’s a risk they are no longer comfortable taking.

When a carrier, mostly a specialty market like Lloyd's of London, is willing to issue coverage for a wildfire location it is likely to cost up to 300 percent more than your standard pre-fires policy, for a more comprehensive policy. For a policy with much less coverage and as a last resort only, The California Fair Plan will issue a policy that may not have enough coverage to rebuild your home or replace your personal items, as its policy limits caps at $1.5 million.

Things you need to know:

  • Review your policy limits with your agent to be sure there is enough coverage to rebuild your home and cover your personal property.
  • Pay your bills on time and do not let your policy lapse – there is a good chance it will not be reinstated for any reason
  • If you are non-renewed, reach out to your agent immediately to replace coverage. This process can take weeks in this current insurance climate.
  • If you are thinking about buying in a high-risk area, reach out to your insurance broker before going into contract with a lender.
  • If you are thinking about selling your high-risk location home, reach out to a real estate broker to determine selling value before entering into a contract for a new home for yourself. These home values may be decreasing due to the difficulty of obtaining insurance coverage.

CAP Physicians Insurance Agency is a full-service Agency. We partner with Integro Group to bring you the best personal lines coverage to meet all your homeowner, auto, and personal umbrella needs.

Reach out to us by calling 800-819-0061 or contact Laura Schneider at Integro at 925-852-0444. Or you may also apply online.