Quick Take
Santa Cruz Mountains resident Daniel DeLong thought his family had managed to dodge California's homeowner's insurance crisis. Then State Farm announced massive non-renewals. Here’s his honest account of what happened next, recognizing that his brain might have blocked out certain portions in order to maintain sanity.
Three months ago State Farm told us that after 32 years, they wouldn’t be renewing our homeowner’s policy, and that as of 12 a.m. on July 9, our insurance would go away.
I said crap that sucks, so “now what?”
They said call a broker, so I did and the broker said contact us one month before your non-renewal date and send us pictures of your house and I said OK, and two months later I did that and they looked at the pictures of our Ben Lomond house and the location and said well, it’s the California FAIR Plan for you and I said crap that sucks (but better than no insurance at all) and I asked how much it would cost and they said they wouldn’t know for sure until they got the paperwork back, but gave a rough estimate of $15,000 and I said crap THAT sucks (but better than no insurance at all) so I waited and waited and it was getting close to the end of June so I called them and asked “what up?” and they said they were still waiting to hear and I said I was getting worried because July 9 was coming up and they said there was nothing more they could do and I said well THAT sucks.
And then it was the holiday and everybody took a long weekend, but on Friday, I got a letter from the FAIR Plan saying the application was incomplete, so I called the broker on July 8 and asked “what up?” and they said they had already handled that issue and that the application was all good, and I said great but reminded them that in less than 24 hours I was going to have no insurance AT ALL and so they gave me the 1-800 number for the California Department of Insurance, so I called them and miraculously reached a live person to whom I explained that I was being canceled by State Farm and had applied for the FAIR Plan, which sucks (but better than no insurance at all) and that despite having done EVERYTHING I was told to do, I still hadn’t received a quote and was about to have no insurance at all, and their answer was to direct me to the California Department of Insurance website (yes, their own website … I’m not joking) to find a list of OTHER possible insurance companies and I said wait a minute, that’s what insurance brokers do and what mine did do and I know for a fact that my only option is the FAIR Plan which sucks (but better than no insurance at all) and so they gave me the 1-800 number for the FAIR Plan, so I called the FAIR Plan and sat on hold for 45 minutes (worst music/recorded messages ever) and finally reached a person who said the application was incomplete and I said no, the broker said it was completed, so they put me on hold (worst music/recorded messages ever) and then came back and said you’re right, it’s good, you should hear something by Wednesday and I said no, that’s not acceptable because as of midnight tonight I will have no insurance AT ALL, so they put me on hold (worst music/recorded messages ever) and then came back and said yay it’s all been approved, your broker will get the official quote in a couple of hours and I was so happy and I told my broker and he said great and so I waited and the hours ticked by and then it was nearly 4 p.m. and the broker hadn’t heard squat so I called the FAIR Plan which sucks (but better than no insurance at all) and sat on hold for another 45 minutes (same horrible music/recorded messages) and talked to a DIFFERENT person who had NO IDEA what the first person was talking about and really tried to help by putting me on hold multiple times (noooooooooo) while trying to reach a supervisor or anybody who could provide some answers and was very sympathetic, but in the end had to admit that everybody would be going home at 5 p.m.
And then it was 5 p.m.
So that’s how at 11:45 p.m. on July 8, I found myself sitting on our upper Alba property during a historic heat wave with much of California on fire, listening to the wind and enjoying my last 15 minutes of insurance coverage in case my home burns to the ground like it nearly did in 2020.
A very short time later, despite having done EVERYTHING I was told to do, my family no longer had any homeowners insurance.
At all.
Epilogue: It took another 48 hours, but Daniel DeLong did finally manage to secure fire insurance for his home. It cost a little less than $15,000 but only because he took a really high deductible. It was a very long 48 hours.
Daniel DeLong distinctly remembers the big red circles with the words “RUN-ON SENTENCE!!!” on his elementary school papers. He thinks that if his fourth grade teacher had to deal with the current insurance situation in California, they might have come to appreciate the value of this particular style of expression.