Bamboo Insurance vs Mercury Insurance

Verdict

Both write California and Texas homeowners business, but they are different kinds of company. Mercury is an insurer: Mercury General (NYSE: MCY) owns the companies that issue and pay its policies, and its group ranked #18 nationally in 2025 ($1.67 billion) and third in California (6.85% of premiums). Bamboo is a managing general agent founded in 2017 that prices, sells and services policies while a separate carrier issues them and bears the risk, mostly Sutton National Insurance Company in California, plus Incline P&C, MS Transverse (since July 2026) and surplus lines markets. Bamboo estimated its California homeowners share at about 4% at the end of 2025.

Mercury's rating is its own: AM Best A (Excellent), with a negative outlook since February 2025, and Moody's A3 (negative). Bamboo has no rating; the issuing carrier's applies, and Sutton National is rated A- (Excellent), affirmed in January 2025. The carrier behind a Bamboo policy can change at renewal, and with it the claims rules and whether the policy is admitted. Bamboo's E&S Signature product is surplus lines, with no California rate approval and no guaranty fund.

They also serve different buyers. Bamboo grew by taking homes that larger carriers turned away: an HO-2 Essential product for older homes and prior losses, and a difference-in-conditions (DIC) policy that sits beside a California FAIR Plan fire policy. In Texas, its Essential Homeowner Program (September 2026) lets you tailor roof coverage, water coverage and loss settlement. Mercury is a conventional package carrier selling home with auto and umbrella, and offers extended replacement cost up to 150%. Mercury takes claims 24 hours a day by phone or online; Bamboo takes them by phone or email. The San Francisco Standard reported in April 2025 on California lawsuits over Bamboo water and storm claims denied or underpaid; Bamboo has denied wrongdoing in court filings.

Choose Bamboo if

• Standard carriers have declined you in California because of an older home or prior losses, and you want an admitted option beside or instead of the FAIR Plan.
• You want a DIC wrap-around for a FAIR Plan policy, accepting two premiums and two companies.
• You are in Texas and want an admitted policy where you can tailor roof coverage, water coverage and loss settlement.
• You accept that the carrier, rating and admitted status can change at renewal, and that claims are reported by phone or email.

Choose Mercury if

• Your home qualifies for standard admitted coverage and you want home, auto and umbrella from an insurer, not an MGA.
• You want an AM Best A (Excellent) group with a long history (founded 1961), sold through about 8,510 independent agents.
• You want extended replacement cost up to 150%, scheduled property, service line, equipment breakdown or home cyber add-ons.
• You live in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma or Virginia, where Bamboo does not write homeowners.

Key differences

Before you decide

Get quotes for the same Coverage A, deductibles and endorsements, and ask each whether it is writing new business at your address. Ask Bamboo to name the issuing carrier, say whether the policy is admitted and state its water and roof sublimits. MGAs and fronting carriers: who really insures your home explains who is on the hook behind an MGA, admitted vs surplus lines home insurers: what you give up explains guaranty-fund protection, The California FAIR Plan explained covers DIC pairing, and how to compare homeowners insurance quotes shows how to line the quotes up.