Homeowner’s Insurance has been an unprofitable line of insurance for most California insurers during the past few years. Many insurers were not doing well prior to the wildfires because of a high frequency of water damage claims. Then came the wildfires and things got really bad.  Since insurance companies are required to file rate changes with the California Department of Insurance and wait for approval, many insurers are “behind” in getting sufficient premium.  We realize this is not what you want to hear, but it’s reality and rates and availability of Homeowner’s Insurance is drying up in California.

 So where do inspections come into play?  Insurance companies want to make sure that what they are insuring is what they “think” they are insuring.  In other words, when agents turn in applications, the inspections verify whether the information on these applications is accurate.  We are not saying that agents and homeowners are lying on applications, but often some things are really not known.

The data and artificial intelligence that insurance companies pay for is not always perfectly accurate as well.  So, they hire inspection companies to go out and inspect the homes of the new policies that they write.  These inspections can often cause problems in that while you may think your roof is perfectly fine because it does not leak, the insurance company may see an older, not up to par roof and they don’t want to have a water damage claim because of that.  Other things to watch out for include decks or concrete that is in poor condition, trampolines, pools that are not fenced, gutters that are cracked or rusted, aggressive dogs, electrical wiring or junction boxes that are not up to code or standards.  These are just a few things that inspectors look for when at your home. 

So what should you do?  Make sure that if you decide to change insurance companies that your home is going to pass or the new carrier will cancel you and you may have to go through another inspection to go back to the old insurer!  Call us today if you have questions.

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