Straight from the headlines. You can't make this stuff up. An Orange County mom was charged due to her 14-year-old son hitting a person on his e-bike. If convicted of all charges, she is facing up to 6+ years in prison. Let's provide a little context to what happened. She and her son had already been warned by the police of his reckless riding on a Surron e-bike, that is considered a motorcycle as it can exceed 50 mph, requires a motorcycle license and to be at least 16 years of age. The Surron is considered a Class 3 e-bike, which is illegal (for anyone without a valid license). If this were a Class 2 or Class 1 e-bike (maximum of 20 mph), I believe this may be a different headline. Either way, when your child harms another person, ultimately, you are responsible for their actions. And when you have already been warned that your child is riding an illegal e-bike, and does not behave appropriately on said bike, consequences follow.  So how do you protect yourself, your family and your liability when your child has an e-bike? Here are a few suggestions, in no particular order: Teach your child to ride safely. There is no other good starting point than teaching your child the rules of the road and to ride safely. And hopefully, this started when they were on a non-electrified bike. Many local police departments have started partnering with communities to offer e-bike safety courses for kids. Get an e-bike insurance policy. Call your insurance agent and request a separate policy as e-bikes are typically not covered on your homeowners policy. If you have an umbrella policy, you may want to start with asking if they accept e-bike policies that are offered by another company. Do not allow your child to mod (modify) their e-bike. Some e-bikes can be modified to go faster by unplugging cables or disconnecting lights or connecting to apps to increase speed. Doing so, may change the e-bike from a Class 2 into a Class 3, which are illegal for children to be riding. And last but not least, if you see or hear that your child is participating in risky or illegal e-bike activities, please take steps to hold them accountable for their actions. Maybe it's a mandatory safety course, community service, or removal of the bike all together. As kids, they still have a hard time grasping that their actions can have a massive ripple effect. If they happen to injure someone, advise them to not leave the scene of the crime, as it is considered a "hit and run." There are a few communities that are instituting fines for improper riding or not having the headlight and taillight on at all times. Be aware of the laws and stay current, as I know of several new e-bike laws on the horizon. By now, we have all seen the e-bike gangs. If we can educate each of our children and their friends, hopefully, we can prevent them from getting into an accident and harming themselves, others and being a little bit smarter out on the road.

I had the privilege of being invited by an insurance company to a panel discussion on the state of the insurance market in CA. It took place two weeks ago in Los Angeles. The panelists included people from government affairs, lobbyists, and insurance executives. I was one of more than 100 people in attendance. Each panelist was able to speak to their profession. The most common theme I heard from everyone was, prevention is the key to saving your home. One of the panelists was the President of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). The IBHS is "an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit scientific research and communications organization supported by property insurers, reinsurers, and affiliated companies. IBHS’s building safety research leads to real-world solutions for home and business owners, helping to create more resilient communities." As the president spoke and showed videos of their research, the videos said it all. The image above is from one of the videos and there is a link to that video if you click on the image. There are quite a few other educational videos here . For the last several years, we have talked about hardening your home, which can mean removing bushes close to your home, enclosing eaves, or replacing the vents to prevent embers from blowing into your attic during a fire. All of this came together, so clearly for me, as I watched these videos . There is logic to not having dried wood, also known as mulch, around your property. Or having a metal gate instead of a wooden gate next to your home. These simple little things, IBHS have proven can save your home, in the event of a wildfire. Please take a moment to watch one or more of the videos. They are truly eye opening and will help you better understand how to make your home safer.

A couple weeks ago, we had a client reach out to ask us, why did my home insurance rate increase so much when I did not file any claims? I think we have all felt this way over the last few years. And when is it going to end? It has been several years of 30-50% rate increases for a lot of us on our home insurance. On car insurance, we have probably seen an increase of 0-20% each year, if you were accident/speeding-ticket free. As odd as it sounds, you can actually track what insurance companies are doing and when they file for a rate change with the state. It is public information and can be found here. If you decide to go down this rabbit hole of data, it is mind numbing, so I've linked the summary pdf for 2025 here . It is a lot easier to digest and see the rate changes in this 18-page doc. Many of the rate filings are program or rule changes. When I look at the data, I tend to look at the overall rate % column. Seeing the rates does not answer the question though: When will it end? I recently had an opportunity to meet a candidate who is running for CA Insurance Commissioner. Her name is Stacy Korsgaden . Before I met her or even read about her, I put together a dozen tough questions I wanted to ask to see if she really knows insurance and understands the market. I felt really good about the questions that she was surely going to fumble over. Then, I googled her. As I started reading, I quickly learned she is a licensed insurance agent (of more than 30 years) and comprehends everything. And once I heard her speak and met her in person, it solidified that she is the right candidate for the job. She is looking deeply at cause and effect of the insurance market in CA. We need more insurance companies to come into the market. Once we have more insurance companies in the market, then the pressure will be reduced on the existing insurance companies capacity issues. More markets, more options over time, should help reduce the cost of insurance. Stacy also pointed out that forests need to be better maintained. We need to manage the ground fuels to help reduce the risk of larger fires. If we do not look at the cause, we will not get the outcome we are looking for. While I do try to stay away from politics, I want to encourage you all to do some reading on the insurance commissioner candidates before the election. Having someone in the office, who has been a licensed agent for so long, has the experience and know-how, who will help steer the ship in the right direction, to help bring in new insurance companies to CA, which in the long run will help stabilize insurance pricing.

What Will Happen With Insurance In 2026?

While it is challenging to help anyone from a distance, you have to trust your team and the people helping you.

I was working with a client a few weeks ago on their home insurance renewal. The client had a claim this past year and were worried about the claim being completed and getting paid out. (Ultimately, they will be paid, because the loss occurred during their policy period, even if they change to a different company.) I did some reading in their policy to double check a few things. I came across a section about the timing of when you need to report a claim, which was a more pressing item, in my opinion. For this particular company, it stated that a claim needed to be filed within 1 year. While this may be applicable for fire damage or some other types of loss, it does not hold true for a water claim. In the last several years, we have worked with a lot of clients through their water claims. Typically, it has been slab leaks or plumbing leaks in the walls. What we have learned is that if you do not report a water leak within 10-14 days of it occurring, most insurance companies will determine that it was a slow leak, known as wear and tear, and not sudden and accidental. Wear and tear is an item that insurance will not cover, such as termite damage, or roots growing through your pipes or a leaky roof due to age. These things happen over time. But a water claim, while it may have only been happening for a short amount of time, much less than a tree growing and pushing up your foundation, insurance companies do not mince words on the length of time a leak can occur and still be covered. About two weeks ago, we had a different client call us, who just returned from a 9-day vacation. When they arrived home, they noticed the carpet in the living room was wet, the base boards were warping and their wood floors were beginning to curl. I learned they were away for 9 days, because I asked, when did you notice the damage and how long were you away? If they had been gone for a month, the insurance company may not want to cover the damage, because at that point, it could be considered wear and tear by their policy contract language. Most insurance companies will write the terms and conditions and limits of their policies. It just comes down to, who reads that stuff? I do! While it can be boring to read, and having a cavity filled is more fun than reading an insurance policy, it may be a good idea to skim through it, so you know what will or will not be covered in the event of a claim. And, as always, you can call us to help you understand it, too.

I was chatting with a friend of mine a couple weeks ago. She said to me, my home insurance company added a separate, higher water damage deductible and removed my guaranteed replacement coverage on my renewal, and they never told me about the changes..... I would be pretty upset, too, if I did not know there were changes in my policy and no one said a word. Unfortunately, this happens on a regular basis. We first noticed it a couple years ago, with one of the insurance companies we work with regularly. We saw a reduction in coverage for water damage from 100% down to 20%. And the following year, it went from 20% to 10%. And they never informed us of the changes, either time. We happened to notice it, when we were working on new quotes for clients. By reducing the coverage, insurance companies are offering or, by increasing the deductibles, is a way for them to help maintain the cost of policies, kind of. I am not sure which is better; maintain the coverage and increase the cost or, having the insurance company increase deductibles and reduce coverage in certain areas. As a consumer, I feel slightly betrayed by the insurance companies for not being transparent and disclosing what they are changing. As an insurance agent, I know they are disclosing it in their rate filings with the state, but that does not make it okay to not inform us. They should write it in black and white, in a letter, to each client about the material changes in their policies. The lesson learned here is, please read and compare your declaration pages each year. This will help you be more informed of any changes to your policy and ensure that you are aware, if you no longer have certain coverage or are forced to have a higher water deductible. And if you need help in reviewing, we are always happy to help you in any way possible.

We had a phone call from a client the other day, very worried and concerned, that he was going to be responsible for the water damage to his neighbor's condo. When you live in a condominium, this is a real fear. Somehow, you have a leaky pipe. The water finds its way into your neighbor's home and they tell you (in a very angry way), you are responsible. While you may feel responsible, according to almost every insurance company, you are not. Insurance companies see pipes breaking or failing as nobody's fault. While the source of the water originated in your home, your policy will only cover damage to your own property. Unfortunately, there is no coverage for damage to someone else's home, unless there is negligence involved. If you, the homeowner, go sneaking around at night (like the image above) breaking pipes, there would be no coverage either, because you are purposely damaging your home. We know that is not the case and the insurance companies know that as well. The difficult part is having the conversation with your neighbor, informing them of the hard truth that there is no coverage from your policy to cover their home. If there is enough damage to the neighbor's home, they would need to reach out to their own insurance company to file a claim. Of course, it is a better idea to start with the HOA, to see if there is any support or coverage from them before filing. And on the off chance you are found responsible for the damage by your neighbor's insurance claims adjuster, you should reach out to your own agent or insurance company at that time to help cover you.