How Shopping for Pasta during the Pandemic and Buying Insurance Right now are similar Five Common Insurance Shopping myths you will find online [and why they dont pertain to you] A quick read of the interent and how to save on home insurance will repeat the same five to 10 myths over and over. Unfortunatly in this day and age – many of these techniques no longer apply. The reasons that many of these myths dont work is becuase they are dated ideas, overly simplistic, filled with optimism, and/or do not reflect the changing nature of personal insurance during the age of inflation and climate cha ..read more

State Farm Nonrenewals appear to be hitting the small town of Orinda the hardest in all of Northern California. In may in fact be the hardest hit in the entire state. In 2024 State Farm announced that it would non renew over 1,500 policies in the small east bay town. This represents over 50% of the policies that they have in this one small east bay city. For the unfortunate consumers hit by these nonrenewals – they need to take action now. 2023 and 2024 have been especially challenging years in the California insurance market, however this decision by State Farm may bring us all to a new low ..read more

Knob and Tube, a form of a very old electrical system, is now all but unisurable in the California Howeowners Insurance marketplace, in our opinion. In other words if you are shopping for home insurance with Knob and Tube- Do not call me. Marindependent may only have one pretty bad solution for you. All of the good insurance options no longer seem to exist. "Knob and Tube is now all but uninsurable." A couple of caveats here: 1. This is our experience and opinion. 2. This is based on the time of this blog post, things can and will change. 3. We do not have access to all insurers – so its po ..read more

What to do If you have a Legacy Homeowners Policy [Chubb or Otherwise] in California? Should you Switch Admitted Property Insurance Companies in 2024? Best Options if you Feel the “itch” to “switch” It happens all the time. I get that call almost every week/month. My Chubb Insurance policy is so expensive, I want to shop it around. Really? Many consumers are unaware of the horrible state of the property insurance market these days. Although that is indeed changing as more learn. General Property Insurance Advisement for 2024: If you have an admitted Preferred Insurance [in California in 2024 ..read more

Welcome to 2023 and this might just not be your typical blog post. My blogs have historically attempted to be helpful, yet accurate in helping consumers and business owners in how to procure the best types of insurances. Sometimes that means sending you elsewhere. Sometimes that means selling you just part of the package. Editors Note: this original article was written in early 2023 [Jan, Feb timeline] but never got published due to the extreme business events. [My phone just started ringing off the hook] In the End of the winter 2023 the California Insurance market became even more complicate ..read more

This just in – the California FAIR plan is to partner with Zesty AI. This announcements has come through multiple methods including an email sent out to California FAIR Brokers. The Zesty AI program will be used for the purposes of underwriting and premium determination. In this short article we will discuss the little we know. What premium increases at renewal can be expected and some of the basic considerations used in this new AI tool. Lastly we will discuss much of what we do not know. Zesty to Plan FAIR Rates: “The FAIR Plan will begin using Zesty AI o assess each individual property’s ex ..read more

A fascinating, challenging article in the most recent Economist Magazine, dated July 13th 2023 – titled Why people struggle to understand climate risk – may have challenged the thinking of the California Department of Insurance and its Commissioner – Ricardo Lara. The article, which is in part based on Climate Change, Risk Management, and Risk Management Tools – states that “Sticking your head in the sand is plain foolish.” It seems upon several reads that the Magazine is specifically calling out the California DOI for not allowing the most recent modeling tools in property insurance premium p ..read more

California is undergoing a tremendous increase in insurance costs. We call this rising cost of insurance – insuranceflation. The causes of insuranceflation. Some obvious, some not. What is Insuranceflation? Simply put insuranceflation is the increasing cost of insurance. Buy a house and watch the cost to insure it go up each and every year – that maybe insuranceflation. In California this process seemed to be more unique to home and liability insurance. However lately this seems to be spreading to other lines of insurance in this great state. Up Next Auto Insuranceflation. Definitions of Stand ..read more

Technology Professional Liability Insurance is often known as Tech E&O. This form of commercial insurance is a must have for most tech companies. Tech E&O can help protect you from claims relating to the profesional services you provide to your clients. This line of coverage is often required under Independent Employment Contracts. In the world of Commercial Insurance, coverages are split up amongst lines of coverage. These forms of insurance include General Liabilty, Cyber, Employment Practices, Auto Liability, Workers Comp, and numerous others. But none of these protect you from the ..read more

Recent headlines concerning various landslides and mudslides in Marin County and East Bay during the torrential storms of January 2023 has reminded us of an important risk mitigation challenge. Landslides are seldom Covered. However the differences between Landslides, Mudslides, Mudflows, and Flooding are important. According to ABC News “Nearly 20 residents have been displaced after a mudslide flowed into the back of an apartment building….” This happened in Fairfax, California in January of 2023. Fairfax is located in Marin County California. Recently NBC Bay Area reported: “The slide only a ..read more