It is a matter of 2-3 years before homeowner and renters insurance will no longer be available in California. Due to bad water and environmental policies, incompetent and corrupt public officials, insurance companies do not want to take a risk.
“Some of the largest insurers have stopped writing new policies or pulled out of California entirely in recent years.
Liberty Mutual and its subsidiary, Safeco, is the latest to join the list, announcing they plan to exit the condo and rental insurance markets in 2026, though they plan to continue offering insurance for homeowners.
“I would call it a disappointment,” said Jerry Becerra, President of Hefernan Barbary Insurance Services.
Becerra is an insurance broker who has more than 40 years of experience.
“It’s the worst market that we’ve had in my entire career,” he said. “The LA fires are going to definitely have an impact. I think it’s too soon for us to know what that impact is going to be.”
Expect all of us to pay more for insurance due to the failed Newsom/Democrat policies that killed off the West Side of Los Angeles and Altadena.
Liberty Mutual plans to exit state’s condo, rental insurance markets in 2026
By Max Darrow, CBS San Francisco, 1/18/25 https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/liberty-mutual-plans-to-exit-states-condo-rental-insurance-markets-in-2026/
The garden in Brian Wallace’s backyard is a little slice of peace within San Francisco’s busy cityscape.
He owns a condo in SOMA, a place that’s about as far removed from wildfire danger as one can get. Yet, like so many Californians, Wallace has felt the grips of the insurance crisis.
“It cannot get any more serious than it is now,” he said. “We were with Farmers for about 20 years or so. They dropped us – although we never had a claim – they dropped us.”
That was last year. He said he was able to find another carrier but was then dropped again.
“All of a sudden you think, OK, now what do I do?” he said.
Wallace worked with insurance brokers in Northern and Southern California and finally was able to land another policy. However, that policy came at a much higher premium, almost $2,700 more expensive than he previously paid.
“The insurance company we have now is perfectly fine. But, we have no idea that come June 1, 2025, whether or not they’re going to not renew us,” he said.
The insurance paradigm has changed, leaving people like Wallace hanging in the balance.
“Action has to be taken, and it has to be taken soon,” he said.
Some of the largest insurers have stopped writing new policies or pulled out of California entirely in recent years.
Liberty Mutual and its subsidiary, Safeco, is the latest to join the list, announcing they plan to exit the condo and rental insurance markets in 2026, though they plan to continue offering insurance for homeowners.
“I would call it a disappointment,” said Jerry Becerra, President of Hefernan Barbary Insurance Services.
Becerra is an insurance broker who has more than 40 years of experience.
“It’s the worst market that we’ve had in my entire career,” he said. “The LA fires are going to definitely have an impact. I think it’s too soon for us to know what that impact is going to be.”
At the end of 2024, the state’s insurance commissioner announced the final step of his so-called “Sustainable Insurance Strategy,” aimed at expanding coverage and bringing insurance companies back to California. As a result, insurance companies will have to begin writing more policies in high-risk areas, but they will be allowed to pass on some of the costs of reinsurance to customers.
“In order to make the standard market come back and get insurance carriers interested in writing business in this state and being competitive, the pricing needs to go up,” Becerra said. “That’s better than throwing everybody into the surplus lines market where prices are two and three and four times what they were paying before.”
Wallace said change is needed, and it is needed now, because from his vantage point, the status quo is not sustainable.
“I don’t know if there can be like, a special session or something like that, and have everybody from the Assembly and State Legislature get together and sit down and get something done,” he said.
A spokesperson for Liberty Mutual provided CBS News Bay Area with the following statement:
We are building a sustainable business path forward in California by simplifying our product offerings and investing in the areas where we can win in the long term. This includes focusing our California business on core Safeco auto, home, landlord and umbrella products, while reducing our overall product offerings.
With this new strategy comes the difficult decision to discontinue several of our smaller lines of business and products in California over the next two years. Many of these lines have underperformed over the past decade.
· Starting Jan. 1, 2025, we stopped writing new Safeco business for condo, renters and watercraft. We are also discontinuing some specific home products written through a few of our many underwriting companies; however, Safeco will continue to write home insurance in California.
· Starting Jan. 1, 2026, we will stop writing new Safeco business for specialty vehicles, motorcycle and non-good driver (standard) auto products.
· Starting Jan. 1, 2026, we will begin the non-renewal process for all the products listed above, as well as Liberty Mutual Condo and Renters policies.
We remain committed to California, to our agent partners and to our mutual customers, and will continue to provide our core Safeco products in the state. We are encouraged by progress on the Department’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy and our investment plans reflect this.
