Home insurance companies halting new policies in California due to wildfires
Well-known companies like Allstate and State Farm have announced they will no longer provide home insurance for new clients.
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Large home insurance providers are no longer providing new home insurance policies for customers in California.
David Peck, a local insurance agent with Horace Mann Insurance, says in the last few weeks, a lot has changed with some of California's most prominent home insurance providers.
"Right now, it seems like daily 2 or 3 companies are jumping ship in California," explained Peck.
Well-known companies like Allstate and State Farm have announced they will no longer provide home insurance for new clients.
The decision to leave California is a move Peck says those agencies felt forced to make.
"We all have taken major losses in the State of California due to the wildfires, not just here in the Central Valley but all over California," said Peck. "We have probably had three of the four largest wildfires in the United States in the last five years."
Peck says companies have reached out to California's Department of Insurance asking for an increase in rates -- a request that has yet to happen.
With fewer insurance options and high rates for new homeowners, Peck says Californians will feel the impact.
"As an agent, I don't like to see that because I am also a consumer, and I don't want to pay more, but who is going to take care of the insurance if the insurance companies don't?"
California's Department of Insurance recently released a statement saying in part,
"Historically, the Department of Insurance has seen companies pause and then re-start writing policies as conditions change. More than 115 insurance companies currently offer California homeowners' insurance. The Department of Insurance is driven to ensure consumers have the most options to meet their insurance needs."
Peck says unless change happens from state leaders, the current situation will only get worse.
"I work a lot with mortgage lenders and helping them, and they will be directly impacted because if they can't get insurance for their client, they cannot sell that house."
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