It’s becoming harder and harder to get a homeowner insurance policy in California. State Farm and Allstate stopped writing new policies, citing wildfire risks. Others are limiting new customers.
And now, several viewers tell San Francisco’s KGO-TV that AAA is not renewing their longtime policies – and it has nothing to do with wildfires.
These homeowners were surprised to find out aircraft and satellites were taking photos over their homes. They were baffled to find out the reasons AAA dropped their coverage – everything from clutter in the yard to draining a swimming pool to save water.
This is all a ploy by insurance companies to put pressure on the insurance regulator.
Nobody thinks downtown SF is a wildfire risk but they’re still restricting policies in places like thatThis makes more sense. I was reading through this wondering wtf they’re thinking.
Similar game played in WA. Insurance commisioner enforced a rule without a vote to make it harder for insurance to set rates based upon zip codes, citing inequality. Then insurance rates skyrocketed for everyone else. Im not sure if it backfired or helped anyone other than the few people who shopped for better insurance, like I did at the time. I had the extra time to shop and go through the pain of getting another insurer but I’m sure others just ate that bigger bill all while insurers got a nice fat pump in their profits.
We put together a public option, we’d see these shenanigans stop real quick
Thats looking like a better option for many industries. Unfortunately those industries have a lot of money to buy politicians and make sure its a failed option.
Private insurance never made sense. The goal is to have the biggest, and most diverse risk pool, so no one event sinks the entire hedge. That means monopoly, and if you have any sort of reasoning capacity, state-run monopoly.
When private firms say “oh, we’ll only do business in a ‘low-risk’ area”, they’re basically asking the fates to pull something like the New Madrid earthquake on them. There is no substitute for diversified risk.
I’d also be unsurprised if a lot of modern “risk analysis” is redlining with extra steps.
We put together a public option, we’d see these shenanigans stop real quick
You have the California FAIR plan. Its much more expensive than any private offering because they don’t have to follow the rules of private insurers in California. Insurance in California is heavily regulated, especially around premium increases. This is why the insurance companies are pulling out; not because the regulations per se, but the math of how much they can charge, versus how big the risk is, is just too high.
These companies are greedy af. I can assure you they want to be making money in a trillion dollar market. The point is that they can’t.
- the fair plan is expensive because they fund the properties that insurance won’t fund. That risk pool is greater. There’s a lot of examples of private money taking the low hanging fruit and leaving anything expensive for the public sector to take care of.
- These insurance companies have been taking premiums for years, and are now trying to weasel out of coverage to limit costs before an emergency happens. All benefit, no cost. That’s not okay. If they’re concerned about their bottom line, there’s lots they can do - like limiting where they offer policies to only those areas within the urban limit line and excluding places built up in the hills.
Ah yes, San Francisco. The city which burnt to the ground no fewer than 2 times in its very brief history.
Leaving a pool empty does actually cause structural problems which the insurance company would like to avoid. Empty pools sometimes just pop out of the ground if there is groundwater to lift them up.
I love when people like you drop these types of facts with links. Thanks!
I just bought a house in California and my state farm rep said they’re not doing any new home insurance policies, but they intend to start again at some undetermined future date.
In Quebec you wouldn’t be able to get a mortgage as long as the house is not insured… If they stop giving policies here, we’re going to have bigger issues…
No issue for corporations paying cash and making everyone a renter.
Other companies still issue insurance here, but with less competition and no loyalty discounts, the price might be higher.
Key bec? Queue bec? Ka bec?
Ke-beck en francais, kwa-beck for the English speakers.
Try GEICO. I just bought a house and had no issues at all.
Almost a little dystopian. Is the satellite footage live or something?
The news video clip in the article says they flew a freaking drone over his house… More than a little dystopian.
pool cover would have helped, wink
In some cat models for wildfire, a pool is a big plus because it means a fire fighting crew much more likely to defend your space as there is a ready supply of water.
It’s the same everywhere. Eventually you will have to just skip insurance and just save your own money.
