Many homeowners in our community have received letters from their insurance companies either canceling their insurance or giving them a short amount of time to address a list of wildfire-related issues.
In our last newsletter [CA Insurance Crisis – Oak Park Fire Safe Council (opfsc.org)], our article on insurance covered the California Department of Insurance (CDI) requirements for homeowners’ insurance companies. We covered the fact that insurers need to provide both community-level and individual property discounts, and we described in detail some of what is required to achieve those discounts.
Today we discuss what to do if you get a letter of cancellation or potential cancellation, or even if your insurance is coming up for renewal. Until recently, homeowners’ insurance has been primarily an afterthought for most of us. However, given the impact of wildfire on insurers, the recent changes from the CDI and focus on wildfire from the state of California, insurance is now becoming so expensive and the risks of cancellation so great, this needs to be an area of focus for all of us.
We have three recommendations that can help you prepare for a potentially bad situation with your insurance:
- United Policyholders (UP) — This is a non-profit group that was formed more than 40 years ago to help homeowners with insurance issues. The group represents us and can be your guide through the challenge of insurance cancellation. It can also potentially help with a large rate hike. We recommend you watch this one-hour video (yes, it’s long but incredibly informative, especially if you are in a cancellation situation) and reach out to UP if needed. You can also go to the organization’s website at Home – United Policyholders (uphelp.org) under the Get Prepared tab. UP provides many useful resources on this website.
- Insurance Agent — In a potential cancellation situation, shopping for homeowners’ insurance on the Internet is not the best response. A knowledgeable agent often has access to plans not listed on the internet and can help guide you through the cancellation challenge. A high-quality plan is more important than ever. You may have a good agent yourself or reach out to one of the agents on the UP webinar. UP can help you identify a good agent in your area. Good agents are just as frustrated by cancellations as we are.
- Home Wildfire Assessment — In previous articles we have discussed the importance of Home Wildfire Assessments. While these are not guaranteed to address all of the issues that a specific insurance company might raise in a cancellation letter, an assessment is free and will provide recommendations for many if not all of the issues an insurance company will flag. GO HERE for your free Assessment.
