• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

CA Fair Plan- thoughts and experiences?

mercurial said:
Do you have good reason to believe that a reduction in regulation will actually result in more affordable insurance options for you?

It's my understanding that one of the proposals that State regulators were considering, was relaxing pricing limitations (allowing them to be forward looking instead of just backward) in exchange for insurers guaranteeing that they will issue X% of policies in high risk areas.

That smells a lot like policy that will result in urban policy holders subsidizing rural ones. It also seems to reflect a concern that even if underwriting rules were relaxed, insurers will still try to avoid issuing policies to high risk areas.
Click to expand...
i am not sure you understand my frustration. First, the area that I live in is suburbia, not at all rural. Second, cost, while being an issue, isn't the driving issue in my view. It is about whether insurance will be available in the future.

I would like to see a thriving insurance market where i have some choice. Lara's proposal item, X% of policies MAY (there is no requirement in the language that I saw, it was more of a target type language) be written in high risk areas seems to come from the subsidy mindset. What is wrong with forward looking analysis setting rates and then charging based on that analysis? Will that make insurance more expensive? Of course it will for some. What is wrong with covering the underlying reinsurance rates? Will it make insurance more expensive? Of course it will, for some. Rules against such practices leave the FAIR plan and surplus market plans with policies issued by companies that you don't even know if they are solvent enough to survive and event like Paradise, Tubbs and the most recent LA fires.

i am not sure of the year, I believe it was 2017, the industry paid out 20 years worth of profit margin. That is simply not sustainable and after the LA fires, we could be looking at a situation where insurers leave California making the FAIR plan the majority source of insurance for homeowners.

Flip
 
Had State Farm for 38 years. Dropped us last year due to zip code. Best combo I found was AAA for DIC, and FAIR plan for fire. Moved everything to AAA. They handled the M/C insurance through Progressive, at half the State Farm rate, and the classic car coverage through Hagerty. They were the only ones I talked to that mentioned that there are options for the FAIR coverage that affect premium.

I'd rather have conventional coverage, much as I wouldn't want Assigned Risk coverage for my vehicles, but FAIR definitely beats no coverage.
 
WFO said:
The premium was close to Twenty-two Grand for the year. It's becoming untenable.

Fuck me.

I wonder what's gonna happen after the insurance companies shell out all the payments for the fires in LA County?
Click to expand...
Deal lord.
 
flips21 said:
What is wrong with forward looking analysis setting rates and then charging based on that analysis? Will that make insurance more expensive? Of course it will for some. What is wrong with covering the underlying reinsurance rates? Will it make insurance more expensive? Of course it will, for some.
Click to expand...

In principle, in could work just fine. It sounds like the risk models will be created by third parties (verint, moody's.) What do you want to bet that the models will be tweaked to their customer's (insurers) liking? :LOL: Think: the opposite of all the CDS assets that caused the 08 financial crisis.

At any rate, it sounds like the new rules went into place Jan 2025, so we will soon find out.

I was looking at the new fire risk maps:

Nevada County - a huge percentage is considered high risk, you guys are probably hosed
Santa Cruz - not as bad as Nevada, but still elevated. Maybe will see benefit from the new rules?
Sonoma - pretty good, except for a few areas. Flip I would guess your property is in one of those areas?
 
littlebeast said:
suburbia? um… ask the santa rosa victims of the tubb fire about that.
Click to expand...
That was my point. Don't have to be in a high fire hazard zone to generate massive claims.
mercurial said:
Sonoma - pretty good, except for a few areas. Flip I would guess your property is in one of those areas?
Click to expand...
I am at the city limits of Santa Rosa where the Cal Fire mapping shows a lower risk outside of city limits than inside city limits. I think the houses are a contributing factor to the risk analysis.
 
I've been looking to buy a house in the Oakland Hills area. It's the cheapest market for a house in the Bay. It's also at the VERY top of my budget. What scares me is that after getting the house/loan, Fire insurance could just be raised astronomically and be unaffordable alongside the mortgage and now inflated property taxes. If I can't afford the fire insurance due to these insane rate hikes, i would lose the house (due to the lender requirements for fire insurance)
 
Akira-R said:
I've been looking to buy a house in the Oakland Hills area. It's the cheapest market for a house in the Bay. It's also at the VERY top of my budget. What scares me is that after getting the house/loan, Fire insurance could just be raised astronomically and be unaffordable alongside the mortgage and now inflated property taxes. If I can't afford the fire insurance due to these insane rate hikes, i would lose the house (due to the lender requirements for fire insurance)
Click to expand...
I think property taxes need to be reformed in California, again.

Prices are so inflated, it does not make sense for property taxes to be so hard on first-time home buyers.

I work in real estate and even though insurance is a challenge, I have not seen insurance kill a deal.
 
I'm sure it does, but it happens before a deal is in the works.
 
flips21 said:
I am at the city limits of Santa Rosa where the Cal Fire mapping shows a lower risk outside of city limits than inside city limits. I think the houses are a contributing factor to the risk analysis.
Click to expand...
New maps coming out. From what I can see, my neighborhood may be downgraded from very high to moderate. I may be able to get some options in a few years.
 
flips21 said:
New maps coming out. From what I can see, my neighborhood may be downgraded from very high to moderate. I may be able to get some options in a few years.
Click to expand...
IDK, we are "moderate" and were canceled.
 
Call it what it is ….The California UNFAIR Plan.
Geez …….
Rip Off
PaulR
 
  • Angry
Reactions: GAJ
We just got the bill a couple weeks ago, up 33% from last year.

This time of year sucks between homeowners and property tax bills coming out soon, buuuut I just got the chase sapphire card with 100k points when you spend 5k in the first three months, so there's a 1k discount on this nonsense that will be helpful. You could live nicely on a beach in Thailand for what Californians pay for homeowners and property tax.
 
in july, our county (placer) was awarded a ‘fire risk reduction’ designation by the state (per their notice ‘meets the states high standards for wildfire prevention and planning’). the notice went on further to say that the state REQUIRES insurers to reflect the special designation in fire insurance premiums with a reduction. am skeptical whether or not that will pan out. i’ll provide an update after they let us know (we currently have fair plan insurance, and we’ve been informed that they are aware of the designation and the subsequent requirement).
 
byke said:
We just got the bill a couple weeks ago, up 33% from last year.

This time of year sucks between homeowners and property tax bills coming out soon, buuuut I just got the chase sapphire card with 100k points when you spend 5k in the first three months, so there's a 1k discount on this nonsense that will be helpful. You could live nicely on a beach in Thailand for what Californians pay for homeowners and property tax.
Click to expand...
Plus you get lady boy!
 
We were able to get off the Fair Plan this year.
Our house is a rebuild after the Car fire here in Redding.
We shared this info with several neighbors who were able to follow suit , so maybe hope for some?
I do have a fire hydrant in front yard , inside city limits, and have a newer home that is potentially more fire safe (Stucco exterior) with inside sprinkler system.
DT
 
When I bought my place in 2010 I was paying about $90/month for HO & Fire Insurance, now it is nearly $500/month

I recently talked with one of my neighbors (they are retired) who has been up there for 20+ yrs and asked if they were on the Fair Plan and he replied No but he said that if he gets non-renewed they are getting out of California

Back in 2010 that $500/month would have covered my property taxes, insurance, electric and propane

My retirement dream of living & riding up there may be slowly becoming a nightmare instead
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top