It’s a story told increasingly frequently over the last couple of years: California homeowners are left scrambling after being dropped by their longtime insurance carriers.
The impact of continually worsening wildfires and drought in the Golden State – as well as billions of dollars worth of insurance claims – have led to policy non-renewals for tens of thousands of homeowners.
According to the California Department of Insurance report, 2019 saw a 31% increase in non-renewals by insurance companies statewide, including a 61% increase in ZIP codes having an area with moderate to very high fire risk and a 203% increase in the top 10 counties with the highest exposure of homes in high to very high fire risk.
Additionally, homeowners with wildfire risk often pay higher premiums than those without wildfire risk and the department said that a recent rate filing with a requested overall increase of 6.9% resulted in an impact to policyholder premiums ranging from -30% for policyholders with no wildfire risk to +80% for policyholders with a high wildfire risk.
