(Image source: Pixabay.) 

Farmers Insurance (Woodland Hills, Calif.) has integrated Zesty.ai’s (Oakland, Calif.) Z-FIRE wildfire risk scoring model into its homeowners’ insurance underwriting processes, enabling the carrier to selectively expand opportunities for coverage for residences located in certain wildfire-risk areas. In conjunction with recent approval from the California Department of Insurance (CDI), Farmers says it will be introducing an innovative approach to help manage its statewide wildfire exposure by assessing individual wildfire risks to homes on a more granular basis while evaluating its overall wildfire risk exposure in various parts of the state.

“Farmers is excited to be a leader in helping to address the state’s complex homeowners insurance marketplace by introducing a new approach to underwriting risks and using Zesty.ai’s innovative new technology, the Z-FIRE scoring model, to supplement our existing processes,” comments Keith Daly, president, personal lines, Farmers Insurance. “We want to thank Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and his team for their willingness to give us the opportunity to introduce advanced technologies to help meet the needs of California’s consumers.”

Zesty.ai describes the Z-FIRE risk scoring model as a proprietary predictive risk evaluation platform that leverages high-resolution imagery, building and weather data, and artificial intelligence to identify property attributes that may impact the level of a property’s wildfire risk.

Extending Essential Insurance Coverage

“Zesty.ai’s work with Farmers to successfully implement the latest AI technology to accurately assess the risk of wildfires is another step forward in managing a problem that has claimed 194 lives and drove $57 billion in economic losses over the past five years in California,” comments Attila Toth, founder and CEO, Zesty.ai. “We are proud that this partnership expands access to essential insurance coverage for many Californians to help protect their livelihoods and communities from natural disasters.”

Farmers Insurance is California’s second largest provider of voluntary homeowners insurance, offering homeowners insurance coverage to more than 1.5 million customers in the state.

“We remain committed to working with Commissioner Lara, consumers and other stakeholders to do our part to help make the insurance marketplace in California stronger and more resilient,” adds Daly. “At Farmers, we understand innovation is key to meeting the needs of consumers’ evolving expectations and to our ability to deliver maximum value to our customers.”

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