State Farm has reported paying out $2.5 billion for the Los Angeles wildfire
s in January, more than double what the carrier reported paying out weeks earlier.
“As of March 28, we’ve received more than 12,300 total claims related to the f
ires and have paid over $2.5 billion to our customers,” State Farm said in a statement on the fires.
State Farm reported more than $1 billion paid out to customers earlier in March.
The latest figures from the California Department of Insurance updated on March 5 show insurance companies paid
out more than $12 billion for losses from the two biggest of the Los Angeles-area wildfires that swept through the region and destroyed tens of thousands of homes in January.
The money paid out in the first eight weeks was likely related to rapid payment
s for additional living expenses and contents coverages, according to the CDI.
“We are now in the phase of the recovery where claims and losses need time to mature as rebuilding begins,” a CDI spokesperson sa
id in an email reply to a request for an update on the losses from the fires. “We will be collecting additional data and updating the cla
ims tracker information, as well as providing additional
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information, in the next several weeks to few months.”
The L.A. wildfires in January were driven by strong Santa Ana winds that produced hurricane-force gusts, causing numerous fir
es to break out at once. Most of the damage was from the two largest fires: the
Eaton Fire in Altadena, which destroyed more than 9,400 structures, and the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades, which destroyed 6,937 structures.
The CDI’s figures from the fires show:
37,749 insurance claims have been filed for home, business, living expenses and other disaster-related needs.
27,821 claims partially paid under laws requiring advance payments to speed recovery.
$12.1 billion paid out
to date to insurance policyholders.
Early estimates had put insured losses at $8 billion for the Eaton and Palisades fire to $40 billion for all five fires that burned around the same time in the region at one point.
Bloomington, Illinois-based State Farm is California’s largest homeowners insurer. Following State Farm, the state’s biggest homeowners insurers are Farmers Insurance Group, Liberty Mutual Insurance Companies, CSAA Insurance Group, Mercury Insurance Group, Allstate Insurance Group, Auto Club Enterprises, USAA Group, and Travelers. Several of those carriers have so far reported payouts in excess of $1 billion.
So far, State Farm is the first carrier to requested a rate increase related to the fires. The carrier has asked for a 22% rate increase, in part due to losses from the L.A. wildfires.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara provisionally approved the request for a 22% interim homeowners insurance rate hike, but the approval depends on whether the company can justify the rate increase with data during a public hearing scheduled for April 8.
