Insurance agents in California

What the law requires, what the local market looks like, and how to find an independent agent in California who has been reviewed by a person and holds to published practice standards.

The local market

Insurance in California

California raised its auto liability minimums in 2025, the first increase since 1967. On the property side, wildfire has restructured the market: admitted carriers have restricted new business in high-hazard territories, FAIR Plan counts have grown substantially, and a FAIR Plan policy plus a difference-in-conditions wrap is now a mainstream placement rather than a last resort. Earthquake is excluded from homeowners policies and written separately, typically through the CEA.

Exposure

What drives claims here

These shape pricing, deductible structure and carrier appetite in California. Several are excluded from a standard homeowners policy and have to be written separately.

wildfire
earthquake
mudflow
flood

Last resort

If the standard market will not write you

California operates residual market plans for risks private carriers decline. These are a last resort — usually narrower coverage at a higher price — but they exist so a property is not left uninsured.

California FAIR Plan

Basic property coverage of last resort, primarily fire, for risks the admitted market declines. Usually paired with a difference-in-conditions policy.
California Earthquake Authority

Residential earthquake coverage sold through participating homeowners carriers.

Recourse

If something goes wrong with an insurer

Complaints about a carrier or an agent go to the California Department of Insurance . It regulates every insurer and producer licensed in the state, and filing a complaint is free.

You can also check whether an agent is properly licensed there before you buy — something worth doing regardless of where you found them.

Coverage in California

Every line of coverage is regulated at the state level, so what a policy includes — and what it excludes — changes at the state line.

California counties

Rating territories, catastrophe exposure, fire protection class and windstorm zones are all set below the state line, which is why counties matter more than they look like they should. There are 58 in California.