California E&S Insurance

I work for an insurance wholesaler. While I do commercial insurance, we do have a robust homeowner's department. We do not sell directly to the public - we work between your agent and the insurance companies. I checked in with our personal lines department and she said there are definitely surplus lines carriers actively writing in the Eaton Fire area. It's definitely more expensive than standard lines carriers but less expensive than Fair Plan. First: get an independent agent. No shade to your Farmer's agent, but they're captive. That means they have to write with Farmers. If Farmers won't take a risk, they need to go to a specific wholesaler. This doesn't mean they won't have good options for you, but they may not have as many options for you. Your independent agent will go to multiple wholesalers which means more available markets. (Note: there are older Farmers agents on different contracts who will go to other wholesalers for you, but there aren't many.) Surplus Lines carriers have freedom of rate and form. That basically means that they have the freedom to step outside of the box to write your risk. A good underwriter wants your story. For instance you may have a standard lines carrier that says they won't write a building over a certain age. A surplus lines carrier may ask you what you've done to upgrade your building and then make a decision. You want to make sure your carrier is financially secure. Ask for their AM Best rating and make sure it's A or better. This means it's been judged financially solvent. We do write with both admitted (standard) and non-admitted (surplus lines) carriers. I will say that the surplus lines carriers, in general, seem to pay faster and easier. That doesn't mean they simply write a check - they may ask questions, etc., but they also tend to pay out. Since they have certain freedoms, they can also decide whether they wish to stay on a risk after a claim while many standard carriers have hard and fast rules about when they have to cancel a policy after a claim. Again, the story matters. Feel free to ask more questions. I'll be on and off today.

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