​More California homeowners than ever before are finding their insurance being cancelled due to brush fire risk.  Many homes that were never considered exposed to brush fire are now having insurance cancelled for that exact reason: brush exposure.

What has changed is the insurance company underwriting statewide.   Following the Paradise, California fire of a few years ago and other fires around California since then, underwriters have become extremely careful in trying to avoid any homes with any brush exposure, no matter how far the brush is from the home.

A new underwriting tool used by most insurance companies is a Brush Score.  A Brush Score is predominately dictated by proximity to areas that have burned in the past. (This is determined largely by an analytics company called Core Logic.)  The brush score can range from 1-100 and anything over 50 can be considered a high risk.
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If you are facing a non-renewal of your homeowner’s insurance, a large increase in premium because of brush exposure, or if you are purchasing a home in a wildfire risk area, we recommend the following insurance companies as possible sources for coverage.   (Contact us if you would like a recommendation on specific insurance agents who have the ability and clout to solve your problem.)
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1.     Direct Writers (insurance companies with agents who only sell for that one insurance company)

State Farm – State Farm can write insurance for homes with a moderate brush exposure and fire zones. Quotes can be generated online, and an agent will be sent the quote to complete the sale with you.   Note:  if you call a State Farm agent first, it is important to know that some State Farm agents seem to have more clout to get things done than others.
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Farmers – Farmers appears to have a lower threshold for Wildfire Score than State Farm, but their mapping of zip codes tends to be more lenient than others. The same applies with Farmers agents: some agents have more clout with Farmers Insurance Company than do other agents, so choose carefully.

Allstate – Securing a quote from Allstate online will not be possible, so we would recommend going to an agent who can direct you to one of the company’s subsidiaries that can place homes with higher wildfire scores.  

2. Comparison Rating Websites

There are over a dozen websites now that advertise they will shop multiple insurance companies on-line.
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However, we have found that most of these websites are merely lead generators for certain insurance agencies; once you have input a limited amount of data, the website tells you that an agent will contact you.  This is not what most people want.  Some of these websites trigger calls and/or e-mails to you for months.

We have found a few comparison rating websites that do what they promise to do by giving you multiple quotes, but without first hounding you with e-mails and phone calls.

However, three of these websites (Gabi.com, Coverhound.com, and Insurify.com) seem to offer very little for homes with a wildfire risk.
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Another comparative rater that was able to show on-line quotes for homes with a high wildfire score was Goosehead.com, which is linked to a chain of franchised agencies. However, after showing you quotes, the website directs you to an agent, and the agent will usually contact you within 24 hours.  The downside with Goosehead.com is that you don’t seem to be able to choose an agent; one is assigned to you and the ability of the agent and willingness to help you can vary depending on which agent is assigned to you.

Also, whether Goosehead.com will solve your problem appears to depend largely on whether your home’s value is low enough.  In our experience, high valued homes weren’t offered coverage for more than $750,000. in reconstruction cost.

3. California Fair Plan

This is a program run by the State of California that allows homeowners to obtain limited coverage when the rest of the insurance marketplace will not cover the home due to underwriting standards.

A quote can be provided in almost every case for up to a $5,000,000 limit.  However, note that coverages are quite limited.  The Fair Plan is often called the “insurer of last resort”.

The Fair Plan can direct you to a retail agent who can fill in missing coverages or limits of coverage.

The Fair Plan’s website is:  https://www.cfpnet.com 

4. Independent Insurance Agent or Broker

Below are insurance companies that can write moderate brush risk.  These insurance companies work with insurance agents or brokers that represent more than one insurance company.  Note that not every independent insurance agency has access to all these insurance companies.  You might have to contact two or more agencies to have your application sent to every one of these insurance companies.
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If you would like a recommendation on an insurance agent or broker that writes a lot of homes with brush exposure, please contact us. ​
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How We Can Help

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If you wish, Net Cost Advisors can help.  We have a simple application that answers all questions that any insurance company might ask, One Size Fits All if you will, and will also help you put your property in the best light possible for underwriters.

You can download this application for free here.

As a reminder, we at Net Cost Advisors are not brokers or insurance agents, but experts in market research. 

If you wish, we can shop every insurance company for you for free.  We have experience shopping with brokers who have delivered great quotes from every insurance company listed above.
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We will update this report every 6 months.  Let’s work to help each other.  If you hear of a new source of coverage for homes with a brush exposure, let us know and we will include it in our next report.   Thanks!