Mobile and Manufactured Home Insurance
Mobile and manufactured home insurance is a specialized policy that may protect the home’s structure, your belongings, personal liability, and attached features like carports and skirting. It is a distinct residential form that identifies the home by its HCD decal or serial number, is written whether you own the land or lease a lot, and does not insure the land.
Your manufactured or mobile home is built differently than a site-built house, and it needs a policy built for it. We work with California homeowners to match the right protection to how and where they live.
What does mobile and manufactured home insurance cover?
- The structure of your manufactured or mobile home.
- Personal property and contents inside the home.
- Personal liability if someone is hurt or their property is damaged.
- Other structures such as carports, sheds, decks, and skirting.
- Additional living expenses if a covered loss makes the home unlivable.
- Transit or trip coverage may be added when a home is moved, since most standard mobile home policies do not cover the home in transit.
Who needs it? Owners of a manufactured home on private land, and residents who lease a lot in a mobile home park or community. Owners of older homes, which no California statute bars from coverage, and buyers whose lender requires proof of coverage.
Many California residents live in park settings or on leased lots, which can affect how a policy is written and what the community expects you to carry. Earthquake and flood are typically excluded from standard property coverage in California and are handled separately.
How we help: We take time to understand your home, its age, and your setup, then explain your options in plain language. If you also own a rental property or want broader liability protection, we can talk through homeowners, landlord, and personal umbrella coverage so everything fits together.
These are usually written on their own form rather than a standard homeowners form, so the terms differ from the other residential policies.
Mobile and manufactured home insurance in California, explained
Is my home a mobilehome or a manufactured home under California law?
California draws the line at 15 June 1976. A home built on or after that date is a manufactured home under Health and Safety Code section 18007, and a home built before it is a mobilehome under section 18008. Homes built after that date carry a HUD certification label on each section and a data plate inside showing the wind zone, roof load zone, manufacturer, serial number and build date. California is HUD Wind Zone I, the base zone. Insurers identify the home by the label, the data plate and the HCD decal or serial number, so keep copies with your declarations page. No California statute sets an age limit on insuring a mobilehome; any cutoff is carrier underwriting.
Does a California mobile home policy pay actual cash value or replacement cost?
Read the declarations page, because replacement cost is an option on this form rather than the default. Insurance Code section 2051 defines actual cash value as the cost to repair, rebuild or replace less a fair and reasonable deduction for physical depreciation. Section 2051.5 defines replacement cost as the same cost without that deduction. The Department of Insurance’s mobile home guide tells owners to ask about optional replacement cost coverage, which is the clearest sign it is not assumed. If your policy is written on replacement cost, section 2051.5 gives you at least 12 months from the first actual cash value payment to collect the balance. After a declared state of emergency the window is at least 36 months.
Who registers and titles a mobile home in California?
The Department of Housing and Community Development, not the DMV. Health and Safety Code section 18075 puts titling and registration of manufactured homes and mobilehomes with HCD. Homes first sold new before 1 July 1980 that were never converted renew their registration with HCD every year and pay the vehicle license fee. Homes first sold new on or after that date sit on local property tax under Revenue and Taxation Code section 5801 and register with HCD only at original registration and on transfer. We ask about the decal or serial number because it identifies the insured home, and about the tax status because it tells the insurer whether the home is personal property or has become real property.
What changes when the home is installed on a permanent foundation on land I own?
Title, tax and lending all change, so tell us before the installation. Under Health and Safety Code section 18551 you must own or be buying the land, and any lienholder on the home must consent in writing before HCD or the local agency approves the foundation. Once the certificate of occupancy issues and the notice is recorded, the home is deemed a fixture and an improvement to the real property. The assessor then values the whole home as real property, and it is exempt from HCD registration while it stays affixed. A home titled as personal property is financed with a chattel loan; a home that has become real property can carry a mortgage. The policy form and the lender’s insurance clause may both change with it.
Can the California FAIR Plan insure a mobile or manufactured home in a wildfire area?
Yes, and since 1 January 2026 on the same terms as any other dwelling. Insurance Code section 10091, as amended by SB 525 (Stats. 2025, ch. 476), now defines the basic property insurance the FAIR Plan must offer to include manufactured homes and mobilehomes under the same terms and conditions as other residential dwellings. Before that date the Plan’s own application and replacement cost addendum excluded mobile and manufactured homes from dwelling replacement cost, so older homes were written on actual cash value. The Plan’s published forms still carry that older wording, so confirm the valuation basis on the application at binding rather than assuming either way. The base policy covers fire, lightning, internal explosion and smoke; windstorm, hail and vandalism are optional additions, and earthquake is a separate application. The FAIR Plan is an insurer of last resort, and liability is a separate companion placement. Our home insurance page explains how the FAIR Plan and a difference in conditions policy work together.
What is an earthquake resistant bracing system, and does it change my premium?
An earthquake resistant bracing system, or ERBS, is an HCD-certified brace set installed under the home to reduce earthquake damage. Health and Safety Code section 18613.5 requires HCD to see that buyers of installed homes are offered one, and section 18613.7 requires a permit and inspection every time one is installed, replaced or altered. Installation is voluntary. The California Earthquake Authority gives a 21 percent discount on its mobilehome earthquake policy for a home with an HCD-certified ERBS or an approved foundation system. The final inspection report showing the permit is what claims it. Separately, every installation must have tie-downs that resist the design wind load under section 18613.4; tie-downs are an installation requirement, not an insurance coverage.
Does my insurer have to offer me earthquake coverage on a mobile home?
Yes. Insurance Code section 10087 includes individually owned mobilehomes in the definition of residential property insurance, so the mandatory earthquake offer in section 10081 applies. The offer may arrive before, with, or within 60 days after issue or renewal, and it recurs every other year if declined. The California Earthquake Authority sells its mobilehome policy only through participating residential insurers, with deductibles of 5 to 25 percent. Our earthquake insurance page covers the CEA product in detail.
Can my park require me to carry insurance, and what notices does it owe me?
Any requirement the park enforces must be written into the rental agreement or the park rules, and the Mobilehome Residency Law prevails over both. Civil Code section 798.51 bars a park from requiring liability insurance only for using common-area facilities for resident meetings, so read your rental agreement for any general insurance clause. The park must give six months’ written notice to change rules without your consent, 90 days for a rent increase, and 60 days before charging for a new service. HCD does not enforce these Civil Code rights; they are enforced in court, so a dispute belongs with an attorney.
What does flood insurance require of a manufactured home?
A permanent frame and anchoring to a permanent foundation. The National Flood Insurance Program covers a manufactured home only if it is anchored with over-the-top or frame ties to ground anchors, to the manufacturer’s standard or the community’s floodplain rules. Recreational vehicles are not eligible. An owner can buy up to $250,000 of building coverage and $100,000 of contents, and the program pays only for loss that is a direct result of flooding. Most standard mobile home policies do not cover the home in transit either. A transit or trip endorsement is what covers a move, once the HCD installation permit for the new site and the highway transportation permit are in hand.
How do you get a mobile or manufactured home quote from us?
Start a personal insurance quote and tell us the HCD decal or serial number, the build year, and whether the home is on leased space or owned land. Add whether it sits on a permanent foundation and whether an ERBS is installed. Some homes we can write directly and quickly. Others go to underwriting for approval, or need the FAIR Plan or a wholesale market, and those take longer. Either way you know before you decide.
Statutory references, FAIR Plan eligibility and program limits current as of September 2026 and specific to California. The valuation basis, limits and endorsements on your own policy are on your declarations page.
A manufactured home on a rented space raises the earthquake question differently, because the CEA offers a specific manufactured-home policy. The wider program is on our personal insurance page.
