What underwriters look at in the garage
Three facts, all readable from the panel door. Type: breakers or fuses — fuse boxes signal pre-modern service and many carriers restrict or require updates. Capacity: 60-amp service, common on older homes, is an application question because modern households load circuits the original design never imagined; 100 amps is the common comfort line, 200 for larger homes. Brand and era: a short list of legacy panels draws specific carrier rules — most famously Federal Pacific (Stab-Lok) and Zinsco.
About Federal Pacific and Zinsco
We'll state only the underwriting fact: many carriers require these panels be replaced before binding, or decline homes that still have them. Whatever the engineering history, the practical consequence for a California homeowner is market access — homes with these panels shop a narrower shelf until the panel changes. Our wizard and every carrier application ask; inspectors photograph the label. Disclose accurately and plan around it.
How panels affect placement, tier by tier
Modern breaker panel, adequate amperage: a non-event — the answer carriers want. Fuse box or 60-amp service: some preferred programs pass; plenty of standard and specialty markets proceed, often with an inspection and sometimes an upgrade timeline. Flagged-brand panels: expect replace-before-bind conditions from much of the admitted market, with E&S as the as-is alternative. The pattern mirrors wiring and roof age: disclosed facts plus a remediation story keep every door from closing at once.
Check your panel door
The wizard asks panel type and amperage — thirty seconds in the garage answers it.
Four minutes to an indication matched to carriers whose panel rules fit your home. No fee, no obligation.
Get a pricing indication →The upgrade, as an insurance project
A panel replacement is among the most contained electrical projects a home can have: no walls open, one permit, done in a day or two in most cases. At quote time it pays in three currencies — eligibility (flagged-panel and fuse-box restrictions disappear), bundling (it's the natural moment to address aluminum terminations or add EV/heat-pump capacity), and narrative (a permitted upgrade with an invoice reads as a maintained home across the whole application). Send your broker the permit and invoice when it's done — mid-term or at renewal, the corrected panel answer reopens markets. The older-home playbook →
Frequently asked
My Federal Pacific panel has worked fine for forty years. Why does anyone care?
Carriers underwrite populations, not anecdotes — and their rules about these panels are about portfolio loss patterns. The rule you experience is simple: many markets want it replaced before they bind. We can quote around it while you decide.
Do I need 200-amp service to get insured?
No — adequacy, not maximalism, is the bar. 100 amps satisfies most carriers for typical homes; the application just wants the true number. Upgrades are about your loads (EVs, ADUs, electrification) as much as underwriting. ADU implications →
Will an upgrade lower my premium?
Sometimes directly, more often through eligibility — moving from a restricted market to a preferred one is where the money usually is. The levers, ranked →