Drivers in the state are finding it particularly challenging to get the coverage they require.
Drivers in California are finding themselves facing a slew of challenges to be able to get the auto insurance coverage they require, that is, when they’re not being outright declined.
Some motorists are calling the hoops they’re jumping through a form of political ploy.
California has been facing a tremendous challenge in the property coverage market, as large insurers such as Allstate and State Farm have announced that they are no longer selling new policies there. This is due to the rapidly rising threat from wildfires and the skyrocketing cost of home repairs and replacements.
Now, drivers – even those with clean records – are discovering that they need to go to great lengths to obtain auto insurance, and that they still run the risk of being declined. This, according to a recent report in the San Francisco Chronicle. American Agents Alliance executive director Mike D’Arelli first noticed this trend near the close of 2022.
Insurers started pulling back at the end of last year, and it is now reaching the point in which insurers simply don’t want to write vehicle policies in the state by way of the American Agents Alliance anymore, said D’Arelli.
Auto insurance companies have also stopped writing policies for drivers in California.
According to D’Arelli, Safeco added itself to the list of insurers that are no longer writing policies through his association. That insurer stopped just this month. Half a year ago, Travellers and about one thousand other insurers did the same thing, he said.
Laine Caspi, an agent based in Los Angeles, said that giants such as Progressive and Mercury have also been making similar moves, such as continuing to cover current customers, but slowing the sale of new policies. Moreover, when coverage is written, according to Caspi, it doesn’t become effective immediately.
Instead, California drivers are finding themselves subject to “review periods” that are up to a month long before the actual coverage begins. That auto insurance review period process is in place no matter how clean a driver’s record may be.
