Insurance — Coverage & the FAIR Plan
Last verified: June 27, 2026
After the fire, the hard question isn't comparing rates — it's finding any carrier that will write a policy in Pacific Palisades at all. Here's the current landscape and the practical path to getting covered.
Most major insurers stopped writing new homeowners policies in California's high-fire areas. State Farm General isn't writing new business in most of the state (and dropped ~1,600 Palisades policies before the fire). Allstate has paused new policies since 2022. For many Palisades homeowners, the California FAIR Plan — often paired with a "wrap" policy — is now the realistic route, and an independent broker is your best ally.
Getting covered
California FAIR Plan
The fallback when private carriers won't write you. It now insures roughly 40% of homes in high-fire Palisades zones. Important: it's fire coverage only and limited — most homeowners pair it with a "DIC wrap" (a Difference-in-Conditions policy that fills the gaps the FAIR Plan leaves — liability, theft, water damage).
cfpnet.com →☎ 800-339-4099
Carriers most likely to write new policies
The state is coaxing carriers back by letting them price wildfire risk in exchange for writing in high-risk areas. As of mid-2026, the names most likely to take new applications:
- Mercury and CSAA — writing under SIS
- Travelers — committed to expand CA availability (first top-10 carrier to re-commit since the fires)
- Allstate — signaling re-entry, but confirm a filed-and-approved rate
- State Farm General & most majors — generally not writing new business
High-value homes: FAIR Plan + DIC wrap
For higher-value Palisades, Malibu and Hidden Hills properties, the common setup is a FAIR Plan policy for fire plus a DIC wrap for everything else — arranged through an independent or surplus-lines broker who can access markets the public can't.
The Honest Math: Claims After a Total Loss
- Most people are underinsured — because of the insurance company's own estimate programs. Your Coverage A limit was typically set by the carrier's replacement-cost software when you bought the policy, and your claim is priced by the adjuster's estimating program (usually Xactimate) — and both badly lag real Palisades rebuild costs. After past California fires, roughly two-thirds of survivors found themselves underinsured. If your limits came from the company's estimate, say so in writing — a carrier-generated lowball estimate is grounds for a Department of Insurance complaint and, in some cases, recovery above policy limits. It is not your failure; it was their math.
- Adjusters are a wild card. Same fire, same street, wildly different outcomes: some neighbors were paid contents in full with no questions; others faced demands for room-by-room inventories and receipts for personal items. If you drew a hard adjuster, don't assume that's the rule — it's the adjuster, and the rights below are your floor. You can also request a different adjuster, in writing.
- You do not need receipts to get paid a contents floor. California law (Insurance Code §10103.7) requires insurers, after a declared-disaster total loss, to pay at least 30% of your contents limit (up to $250,000) with no inventory at all. The Insurance Commissioner publicly urged carriers to pay these fires' claims in full without itemization — many did. (For disasters declared after Jan 1, 2026, the "Eliminate The List" Act raises the no-inventory floor to 60%, up to $350,000.) Itemization is only about recovering above the floor.
- Your temporary-housing money has a long clock. Declared-disaster ALE (loss of use) runs a minimum of 24 months, with extensions to 36 months for delays beyond your control — permit queues qualify.
- You can take the money and build elsewhere. Under Insurance Code §2051.5, you're entitled to full replacement-cost benefits even if you rebuild at a different location or buy an existing home instead. An insurer cannot dock you for not rebuilding on the same lot.
- Put everything in writing, and escalate. Every promise, every denial, every adjuster change — email, not phone. When you hit a wall, the Department of Insurance hotline below (800-927-4357) opens a formal complaint that carriers must answer, and United Policyholders (below) has survivor-to-survivor claims guidance that has been through every one of these fights.
Help & advocacy
California Department of Insurance
The state regulator. Use it to find carriers still writing, get help with a non-renewal, or file a complaint against an insurer.
insurance.ca.gov →☎ Consumer Hotline 800-927-4357
United Policyholders
Free guidance for survivors on filing claims, fighting underinsurance, and resolving disputes — widely used by LA fire survivors.
uphelp.org →Following the insurance fight? For ongoing coverage of the FAIR Plan and carrier moves:
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