Insurance renewal

[Greg and Cindy]

Greetings and Merry Christmas!  QQ regarding insurance renewal, mine went up substantially and I was wondering if the same was true for you?  We have had State Farm for our place in the Bar K for 12 years now and although it's never been inexpensive it went up a lot this year.  I have pushed back and received this from my broker:  
 " To give you an idea of the overall costs and availability to even insure homes in  higher wildfire areas, I don’t think that anyone else in this state would even insure that property. When I go into our eligibility tool, that home location is not something we can even write anymore due to higher than ever restrictions. So if for any reason that policy cancelled, we could not re-write it. State Farm is pretty much the “last man standing” when it comes to homes in high wildfire areas. "

Is everyone else experiencing the same from their insurance companies?  Would you mind sharing who your companies are? Is State Farm really the last man standing? 

Thanks, Greg & Cindy-

[Dory]

Hi Greg and Cindy.

Me too, I've been insured by State Farm in the Bar - K for twenty years, plus with the same insurance agency since I was in my twenties  for previous homes and cars and my insurance went up $800 and I've never filed a claim on my house. What a racket!

[matt.thompson05@gmail.com]

I actually think Allstate is the last man standing.  Our premium increased more than $800 this year and we've only had the policy for one year.  State Farm wouldn't insure us last year when we purchased a house in Bar-K, and we're pretty near the fire station. American Family was still operating in the area in 2023, but they too have pulled out.  Specialty policies are still available from various providers at a very high cost and often have no protection from the Colorado Guaranty Fund.

[KlausW]

FWIW, we have had American Family Insurance since we moved up here in 1990.  Two minor claims since then, and few complaints from our end.  And no notification from them about canceling our insurance.  Rates have been going up due to the increased wildfire threat, in particular due to the Marshall Fire (insurance losses >$1B), even though our neighborhood is much less prone to wildfires than the lower foothills.  But insurance companies do not apply such a fine tooth comb when assessing fire risk.

[joeryan80481]

About a year ago, Allstate, which had insured our home for many years, stated that we needed to accomplish various fire mitigation activities, most of which were easy to do.  We submitted proof that we responded to their concerns, and then they presented more (e.g., like keeping our grass short, for which they sent a photo of the property covered by snow!).  So I started looking for alternatives.
  
State Farm and American Family were the two that were open to writing a policy.  American Family wanted another list of improvements done (some of which seemed useless in preventing fire), and State Farm had no requirements, so we went with State Farm. 

After six months, State Farm bumped our premium, but that's likely because we had water damage thanks to a boiler that failed while we were away.

Joe Ryan, across from Rock Lake

[Hollis]

Recent video on Youtube, 'Colorado FAIR Plan', and a link for info.
I haven't educated myself or explored it yet.

https://doi.colorado.gov/insurance-produ...-fair-plan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaFBie5-eUk&t=151s

[Julia]

USAA for 20+ years in the Bar K. They are good for auto insurance too, if you qualify. Apparently, after the Marshall Fire, they were very attentive to those who had suffered losses, but, thankfully, I’ve never needed to make a claim. My dad was in the Air Force and my daughter qualifies as well.

[Ben Perry]

Hi all! Good discussion... it's always helpful to stay current with who will provide coverage and under what conditions.

When we purchased our new home in the Bar-K this summer, we started our insurance search with Country Financial, who had insured our house on Bramer since 2006 without incident. They told us they weren't writing new policies in this zone, but also weren't canceling existing policies (yet). Of the major providers we subsequently contacted, only Allstate would write a policy in the Bar-K (albeit at extortionate rates with strict polices about mitigation). We were forced to consider providers in the "excess and surplus" policy market, which consists of companies we've never heard of (including Kraft Lake, Evanston, and other fictional-sounding names) willing to operate in areas considered too high risk by the big names. Eventually, we chose a policy underwritten by Evanston Insurance and facilitated by a local independent insurance broker. Hopefully we never have to put them to the test with a major claim.

Based on this experience, I recommend working with a local insurance broker with many underwriting possibilities rather than focusing on the marquee names with big advertising budgets. They don't want to be here.

[Joe Strickland]

My neighbors on Sparn (Emily & Joel) had their homeowners discontinued and settled on AAA.   They even saved some money (mostly on the car portion of the combined policy).   I'm with State Farm and happy with the service but unhappy with the increasing premiums, so I bid out AAA just to compare.   About the same homeowners rates as State Farm & they had no problem with issuing new policies in this area (High Lake Dr.)
Joe Strickland

[Greg and Cindy]

Wow, thanks everyone for the great responses and feedback, we have a wonderful community up here.  I am planning to check out USAA and also my son's independent broker.  I agree the risk up here is probably no more than the foothills (i.e. Marshall fire) and paying 4x the premium seems out of line.  Also I have wondered how much of my premium pays for all those great TV ads... bundle-rooski-doo!  

Cheers, Greg & Cindy-

[O'B's]

Hi all-Always tricky the insurance question. Remember that Lefthand has an ISO (Insurance services organization) rating of 4, 1 being the best (think urban setting w/hydrants every 500 feet) and 10 means no fire protection. Nearly everyone is less than 5 miles from a station, and we have robust mutual aid agreements that bring us water above and beyond the staged (cistern/lake/pond) water in the district. The marquee names are raising rates, but it's not all wildland fire. In Colorado, they're mostly interested in the hail. Working with local agents or brokers is your best bet rather than an AI on-line experience.

[Greg and Cindy]

So I fell victim to the USAA bait and switch, we don't qualify despite our fathers who served but did not become members of USAA before their deaths.  So Gronk lost any respect I had for him. We are now members of USAA but do not qualify for the discounted insurance but whoa they can hook you up with the likes of Liberty-biberty.  Insurance in the Boulder county mountains is difficult at best, be thankful if you have a policy, many are being cancelled.  I am working with an independent broker now but expect high premiums despite nearby fire stations, 500 gallon water cistern, nearby lake and fire mitigation efforts.

Thanks again for all the valuable feedback!!!

[joeryan80481]

A couple of articles in the New York Times today in areas affected by fire and other climate change-related disasters.  I copied the links that should allow free access to non-subscribers.

This is the main article:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024...=url-share

This is a link to state maps showing where insurance coverage has changed:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024...=url-share

Hope these work...
Joe

[KlausW]

Thanks for your the link/comments, Joe and Chris (O'B) - those hail storms don't really reach damaging proportions at our elevation (Bar-K: I never measured hail stones over 0.5" diameter up here), but on the plains, while wildfires are much more common in the lower foothills than higher up.  Same with flash floods and serious tornadoes.  The only increased risk I can think of up here is from snow and wind storms, perhaps also lightning strikes, but all kind of peanuts compared to those other events.  As mentioned before, insurance (and re-insurance) companies have had big losses by the Marshall fire in particular as well as a few big hail storms near Denver and now they are trying to recover by hitting everybody with higher rates.  And that is just based on Front Range events, ignoring national trends.  What can one do?  Perhaps it's time for a smaller-scale COOP/non-profit type insurance model that would reflect actual local risk?