I was invited to hear the Deputy Insurance Commissioner speak two weeks ago in Anaheim. Unfortunately, she had to cancel last minute. Her replacement from the Department of Insurance had a great presentation though. As I reflected on her words, something became very clear to me...we should be more proactive in taking steps to "harden our homes." I've written several times about hardening your home, whether it is enclosing your eaves or removing any vegetation within 5 feet of your home. In my opinion, one of the first steps should be to install new wire mesh vents. This will help prevent burning embers from entering the attic and igniting our homes on fire from the inside. If we look at the homes that did not survive any of the fires; LA, Altadena, Laguna Niguel, most of the homes did not have upgraded, fire-resistant vents. While there may not be a 100% preventable solution to fireproofing a home, there are many steps we can take to help reduce the risk of our homes catching fire. I was referred to someone recently, whose business is fireproofing homes. He is a retired fireman and is very informative when it comes to how to help fireproof your home. The company name is T&T Home Solutions and they are listed in my trusted partners section. If you have not done so already, please take some time to talk to a professional about upgrading your vents. Now is the time to start, before we get into the hotter summer months or we are away on vacation.

With the LA fires contained, it is now time to pick up the pieces. LA County, the EPA and Army Corp of Engineers are providing a debris removal program for anyone affected by the fires. This is a FREE program and to qualify for it, you need to OPT IN before March 31. In my opinion, if you or anyone you know, who lost their home in the fires, they should opt in to this program. While there is debris removal coverage inside your homeowners policy (typically 5% of your dwelling coverage), this program seems to be much more robust and at no cost to you. In addition, the rough estimate of the debris removal, if you lost your home in these fires, could be as much as $175,000. Here are the links to learn more about the program and to opt in .  In other insurance news, there has been an increase in tow truck driver scams in Southern CA. The way the scam works is, you are in an accident, but unbeknownst to you, you were possibly hit on purpose. Next, a tow truck shows up, pretty quickly, and offers to help. They offer to tow you to a local body shop. Then the body shop forces the driver to pay a large amount of money that is not covered by your car insurance to get your vehicle back. Here is a direct excerpt from the Department of Insurance Warning: "There are a few red flags drivers should be aware of to make sure they are not a victim of this type of scam: Tow truck shows up within minutes of accident, you may not even have had time to call anyone yet. Tow truck driver tells you which body shop your car is going to instead of working with you to identify where you want your vehicle to go. Tow truck driver tells you someone will contact you by phone or asks you to sign documents. Tow truck driver requests a rideshare for you. The Department urges drivers if they believe they may be in a situation like this to verify the tow truck with your insurance company or wait for CHP to verify the tow truck was dispatched by CHP. Also, do not sign any documents until you have talked to their insurance company." We know sometimes things that may seem too good to be true are. In this situation, the debris removal program is a good program and the tow truck situation is not on the up and up. Be safe out there and we are here if you need us.

It has been a challenging last couple weeks with the fires around Southern California. We feel for everyone, who has been affected by these fires, and know this time is very difficult right now. If you have questions about coverage or need help in any way, please call us to discuss your concerns. You are our priority. Interestingly enough, there has been a big social media buzz about if you have a trust and your home insurance does not list the trust and that your insurance company will not pay your claim. This is not necessarily true. Every insurance company handles things differently. There is not a blanket right or wrong answer. However, if you do hold your home in a trust, typically, you can add your trust as an additional insured or additional interest (depending on what your insurance company will allow). Most insurance policies are written for individuals and not for an entity, which is why it will vary. From what we have learned in the last few days, insurance companies want to pay claims...to the right people. When you cannot prove you are the owner of the trust (because your paperwork was destroyed in the fire), the process slows down, as the insurance companies want to make sure they are not writing checks to the wrong people. There are people looking to commit fraud and the insurance companies are trying to help their clients avoid it. That is why it may take longer. In regards to coverage for your home, if you are worried you may not have enough coverage, in the event your home is lost due to a fire (or other peril), please call or email to discuss it. Every home is different and unique and we want to be sure you are confident that you have the correct level of coverage to help you sleep better at night. As we emerge from the fires and 2025 continues, we know there is a long road to rebuilding for the people who lost everything. There will be scammers out there trying to take advantage of you, so they can profit. Be mindful and thoughtful about who is trying to "help" you. And if you are not sure, talk to your claims adjuster or agent for some advice. We are in this with you.

It is that time of year, when we begin to reflect on what we have accomplished. We also think about what we are thankful or grateful for. By now, it feels like the year has flown by...and it has. 2025 is right around the corner and time is not slowing down. Have you made any plans for 2025 yet? I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to say what I am grateful for. I could not do, what I do, without my wife. She inspires me and keeps me in check. She is an amazing human being and I am lucky to have her in my life. I am thankful for my son, who challenges me every day, to become a better person and father. I am thankful for my team at work: Becky, Marelle and Alijah. We recently hired Alijah a couple weeks ago. He comes to us from a strong customer service background and is learning all things insurance right now, hard at work and studying for his insurance exam. I am also thankful for my family and friends for always being there and believing in me. And I am thankful for you, for your trust in me to help you navigate this crazy insurance market. My team and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and create some memories that will last you a lifetime. From our family to yours, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.

With the cooler weather and shorter days on their way, it may be time to do a few household chores....that you may not have done in a long time. A couple months ago, we had a client's garage burn down. The property is a rental property for them and nobody was hurt when it happened, thank goodness. It was not an electrical fire, though, maybe that would have made sense. The tenants have their washer and dryer in the garage. The cause of the fire was a build up of lint in the dryer vent due to never having been cleaned out before. Dryer lint is the perfect dust ball that can catch fire, quite easily. It is also listed as the #1 cause of house fires, on a regular basis, here in the US. I believe most people do clean out the lint tray from their dryer after each use. But, how often do you check the flexible tube (dryer vent) that goes from the back of the dryer to the wall/outside? A couple weeks ago, a different client called to inform us that they had water dripping onto their car that was parked in the garage. When they looked up, there was a large puddle that had formed in the ceiling above and was just starting to leak. After poking a hole in it and releasing the water, they called a plumber to try to figure out what was causing the leak. The plumber cut into the drywall above, to find the plywood was almost completely rotted away, right under a toilet. My instincts said "wax ring." A wax ring is what connects your toilet to the floor, sealing in what is flushed from your toilet bowl down into the sewer. The wax ring only lasts a certain number of years. When I asked my client when they last changed the wax ring, they replied by saying, "what is the wax ring?" This past weekend, at my own home, I decided it was time to change the smoke and CO2 detectors. The smoke detectors, we installed about 8 years ago, had about an 8-year battery life. I wrote the date that I installed them on, on each detector many years ago, but failed to write down the change-by date. I decided, since we had already dismantled two of them over the last year or so, it was time to replace them all. You may be wondering how frequently you should vacuum out the dryer vent (the one that connects in the back of the dryer, through the wall, to the outside of your home)? It is recommended to do this once per year. How frequently should you change the wax rings under your toilets? According to online resources, the wax ring should last 20 years or more. However, sometimes wax rings can dry out and fail, which is what happened to our client. Other signs you should change the wax ring are: if the toilet rocks or wobbles if you see water pooling around the toilet if you see any mold growth around the toilet if the toilet smells like sewage if the floor is moist, damp or spongy For any of these reasons, please call a licensed plumber to help you. I have made the decision to change my wax rings every 10 years, at most, to help avoid a potential problem. How frequently should you change the smoke and CO2 detectors in your home? Typically, the battery life on new models is up to 10 years. The current models installed in your home may have a shorter life span. When installing new ones, make a note of the install date on the detectors and the change-by date for what is recommended by the manufacturer. This will help you remember when you actually need to change them, instead of trying to remember. Please note, all smoke detectors are different and please refer to the manufacturer for maintenance and when to replace them. All of these items can seem a bit overwhelming, if you try to tackle them at once. Please find time to do them over a weekend or two, if you have not updated them in a long time. Be sure to make a note on your calendar, too, if it helps you remember, when you need to change them again in the future. It could save you a headache or a claim by doing some preventative maintenance.

Have you seen this headline, recently? It made its way around the news and social media in the last week or two. It is a headline grabber and is designed to make you look. The one above is from the Orange County Register on August 14, 2024. Think of it as the newspaper trying to sell more newspapers, or the social media companies looking for more clicks to find a way to capitalize off a headline. Either way, there is some truth, but, of course, the headline is not the whole truth. Are insurance rates up? Yes Are car insurance rates up 54% this year? No The real question is why are insurance rates up? If we look back to Covid, the Department of Insurance mandated that car insurance companies refund premiums, because people were no longer driving as much as they used to. And car insurance rates were then frozen for about 3 years. The thing is, people started driving again after a few months during Covid. Insurance claims were back to normal very quickly, except the rates could not keep up with what happened next: Inflation! Inflation spiked and everything became more expensive. Except, insurance rates stayed the same. In March 2023, Progressive was the first auto insurance company to request and receive a double-digit rate increase. They also received a second double-digit rate increase this year. I had the privilege of attending one of their road shows a few weeks back, where they informed us that they are rate adequate. What that means is, they do not believe they will need to increase their auto rates for the next two years, bringing some stability back to their insureds. Because insurance companies were not allowed to increase their rates during or right after Covid, we did not experience a slower increase in our insurance rates, like we normally have in the past. If we had a 10% increase each year for the last 3 years, it would be the equivalent of a 33.1% increase. But, because we did not have any real increases, this created the perfect storm. Some are now saying and seeing a 54% increase in auto insurance, which would have happened anyway over the last 3-4 years had the Department of Insurance allowed it. Fast forward to today, there are still many insurance companies who have filed for rate changes and have not yet received them. The Department of Insurance has promised to have their new regulations in place by December 2024. This promise was made back in September 2023 (link here) . Once the new regulations are in place, the insurance companies will file their rate changes, which will hopefully, only take 60 days for review and approval. As soon as the rates are approved, they will be put into place for us consumers to start paying. After a year or so of the new premiums being paid by us, I believe the insurance market will begin to stabilize. I am excited for 2027, with the idea of more insurance companies returning to the marketplace and having more options for our clients.

With all the headlines about increasing insurance rates, it should be no surprise that I am included in this pool of people. Lo and behold, I received my homeowner’s insurance renewal, just the other day. Let me start with my coverage. It is staying exactly the same as last year, according to my home insurance company. So, you would think my rate should not increase that much, right? WRONG!!! My home insurance policy is increasing by 50% this year. Yes, 50%!!! I kind of expected 40%, but 50%??? I also realize that some of our clients’ rates have increased by 100% or more, so I really cannot complain. The other item I am recognizing with this situation I am in, and that all of you are in, is that there is no better option for me either. I am kind of stuck. I'm stuck with my insurance company, because I know if I shopped around, I would only find another company who would want me to pay even more than my 50% increase at renewal. Unfortunately, it is the market we are in. We are receiving bigger bills and we all feel stuck. I was emailing with a potential new client, just yesterday, about her auto insurance. The renewal is going to be about $10,000 for the year for the entire family's car insurance policy. We worked on an alternative quote and it was about the same; $10,000 per year. She asked if there was anything she could do to change her situation. The fact is, no one in her family did anything wrong. They have no claims. Their rate just increased. I wish we had a better answer and solution. For now, I am going to pay my insurance renewal. I hope that the insurance market begins to stabilize, so the increases can slow down and hurt less moving forward.

A lot of insurance companies are still trying to find ways to not renew your home insurance policy, in an effort to reduce their risk and potential exposure from future claims. They may ask you for the age of your hot water heater, photos of the electrical panel, or even the age of your roof. Or maybe they are using satellite images to look at your roof for moss, as a reason to not renew your insurance. I think the hardest part about this is it feels like a personal attack, but it is not. After all, you may have been with your insurance company for 20 years or maybe just 2. And all of a sudden they are "betraying" you, at least that is how it feels. However, it is strictly a business decision coming from senior management. Cost control measures are being put in place to reduce potential claims, to be able to remain in the insurance market. We have had several clients opt to not respond to the insurance company’s request for information. As an agency, we want what is best for you, which is to maintain your current policy. The couple of new quotes we have worked on for those clients, who have been non-renewed due to the hot water heater being too old or "moss" on the roof, have been three to four times more expensive than the expiring policy. Yes, 3-4x! If you receive one of these notices, please do not ignore them. Work on providing the information the insurance company is requesting. Of course, if they are requiring a new hot water heater, because your current hot water heater is more than 12 years old, maybe it's worth spending the extra $1500 to avoid paying a lot more for a replacement policy.