Even before the fires around LA County were under control it was clear that the situation was going to be a disaster for California’s struggling insurance industry. In case you’ve missed all of this, here’s a brief rundown of what was happening before the recent wildfires.
State Farm, the largest insurer in the state, announced it would not write any new policies back in May 2023. Allstate followed about a week later and then Farmers Insurance announced they were capping the number of new policies they would write. Hartford Financial Services Group and USAA also pulled back. Last April, State Farm canceled 72,000 policies including around 1,600 policies in Pacific Palisades. Many homeowners were forced to buy expensive policies from California’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR plan, a pool made up of people no one really wanted to insure.
On top of this…
