The Impact Of California Wildfires On Home Insurance

The recent devastating fires in Los Angeles have served as a stark reminder of the importance of protecting your home with an adequate homeowners insurance policy. Unfortunately, these wildfires are now becoming a common occurrence in southern California, causing severe impacts to homeowners insurance in the state. If you are a homeowner in and around the area San Diego, California, and have questions about your home insurance options, Windfall Insurance Services Inc. can help. Continue reading to learn more about the way California wildfires are impacting homeowners insurance and ways to remain protected in the event of a natural disaster.

Recent Trends In California Homeowners Insurance

Even before the most recent fire disaster in the Los Angeles area, many insurance providers already began cancelling their homeowners insurance policies in areas prone for fires and left the state. One of the primary reasons this occurred was because insurance companies found themselves unable to afford rebuilding and replacing homes due to the vast impact and expense of the destruction caused by wildfires in the area becoming more and more common. In California, insurance companies have lost underwriting profits because of propositions that created a prior approval system and decreased insurance rates, and ultimately have been unable to make money with homeowners insurance policies in the state. This has caused great concern for California homeowners, and have left many uninsured or not adequately covered.

Reforms To Home Insurance In California

Despite all of these challenges, fortunately there are ways that Californians can still protect their properties. A year-long moratorium has been established prohibiting insurance companies from dropping coverage for Californians living in fire prone locations, which helps to ensure that any homeowner that currently has a policy or had a recently dropped policy will still be insured. An additional law ensuring that any property entirely lost to a natural disaster is offered at least a two year renewal policy. California is also working on a new policy that will allow insurance agencies to charge higher premiums in order to bring back companies to the state, while also increasing policy coverage to homes located in areas at risk for fires. This means that homeowners in fire prone locations will likely have to pay a higher cost for homeowners insurance, however, they will also be able to keep their homeowners insurance policies, even after the one year moratorium ends.

Protecting Your Home In California Despite The Challenges

There are also steps you can take to prevent issues that affect your homeowners insurance, including being aware of knob and tube wiring and taking necessary steps to update that, avoid making claims on minor occurrences, which can increase your premiums, and avoiding relocating to high risk areas that could make your home vulnerable. If you have questions about homeowners insurance in San Diego, California, contact Windfall Insurance Services Inc. today for a consultation.