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Posts Tagged ‘Homeowners Insurance’

At first glance, it may appear that we are hitting up obscure topics by covering earthquake coverage when discussing buying homeowners insurance. Ostensibly, it might certainly be the case; in the continental United States, on a state-by-state basis, only a few folks may have the need to buy homeowners insurance with earthquake coverage. To the majority of people, when they are thinking of buying homeowners insurance that would cover earthquakes they think of California. As California is only one state out of 50, why would we write an article of such an obscure nature?

Consider just the single state of California for just a second. California alone, separated from the rest of the United States, has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which would push Canada off the list of the G-8 nations! Of course this does not include other states in the same time zone (Alaska, Oregon and Washington). According to Wikipedia, of the total US population, more than 12% live in the state of California. So it’s worth looking at a single state impact.

Given that, both Gudrun and Tcat agree that while considering the topic of an earthquake when buying homeowners insurance may not be a pleasant topic, and it is an important one!

We feel this is important because the standard homeowner’s insurance policy does not cover earthquakes. This means if you do not buy homeowners insurance covering this natural disaster, you still owe on the mortgage – for a house that might not even be habitable. So the question becomes, what are your options to buy homeowners insurance that will cover an earthquake? California is such a large real estate market; we will look at the state specifically, first.

California earthquakes made the specific type of natural disaster or a political hot potato. So in September 1996, the state legislatures created the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). While it is publicly managed, it is privately funded. However, that does not mean necessarily that buying homeowners insurance to cover earthquakes from the CEA is a great idea.

You may be able to get a better deal buying homeowners insurance covering earthquakes from a policy that is not from the CEA! Sure, we know that sounds crazy at first. So here’s the deal. The policy rates for earthquake insurance from the CEA are factored “across-the-board”. This is a great deal if you happen to live on the San Andreas or Hayward Faults. Therefore, if you are one of the many that live between San Francisco/Oakland down to Los Angeles area, we suggest you look at a CEA policy first.

And suppose you live in San Diego County? Sure, the San Andreas Fault is in that general region too. And the fall line is about 30 miles west, way out in the Pacific Ocean! If you are even just inland, say, for example in the Escondido district, the odds of you filing a claim for an earthquake are now less likely. Yet when you are buying homeowners insurance to cover an earthquake you are actually subsidizing the higher risk cities mentioned above!

For that reason, if are not in the relatively small, high-risk area for earthquakes, we advise you to look at buying homeowners insurance for earthquakes outside the CEA market! Of courses it is a good idea to check and get quotes from both sides. And we thought you would like a little insight on a good first step. After all, there are more of you in this situation then there are left-handed people in the United States. And the failure to buy homeowners insurance covering an earthquake is a recipe for disaster.

Yo! It’s dark, stuffy and hot inside this little box of electronics. Not only that, we cannot hear you when you talk to us. Send either of us an e-mail to tell us what topics you would like to hear about.

What do San Diego County residents have to know about Earthquake Insurance Policies, Risks and Costs?

Quality Claims Management views Earthquake coverage as catastrophic insurance. You will only need it if we have a really big earthquake. However, depending on where you live in San Diego and how much you have invested in your home, you may opt to get coverage. Here is what you need to know.

First, most standard homeowners, mobile home owners, condominium, and renter’s insurance policies DO NOT cover earthquake damage. Similar to flood insurance, earthquake insurance usually must be purchased separately.

However, fire insurance is part of most typical homeowners insurance policies. This means your home insurance policy may cover a significant part of the damage if your home burns down or is damaged in a fire that is caused by an earthquake.

Much of the damage that often arises from an earthquake happens after the ground stops shaking. Gas lines that may have ruptured and start leaking can catch on fire and burn your home to the ground. In San Diego County, it is also very possible that your home may be consumed in a wildfire sparked caused by earthquake motion many miles away. A power line may have collapsed. A home may have caught fire because of the quake and flames traveled many miles through brush to your home.

Another major factor is water damage. Quakes often break pipes. Even small quakes can crack a water or sewer pipe that floods your home and can cause extensive damage to your floors, rugs, furniture – even to the structure of your home.

If your homeowner’s insurance includes fire and flood damage, you should be covered for this “earthquake” damage – even if you don’t have earthquake insurance.

Another danger from earthquakes is landslides. You may or may not be covered for this. You need to check your homeowner insurance policy to make sure of your coverage for both landslide and fires. If your home does burn down, are you fully covered? Will you be able to replace your home and all of your belongings.

Check our other articles about homeowners insurance for details about coverages and what you need to know.

Where do you get Earthquake Insurance?

The law requires insurers that sell residential property insurance within the state of California to offer earthquake coverage to their policyholders. Most of these California earthquake insurance policies are backed and administered by a government organization known as CEA – the California Earthquake Authority.

Even though most earthquake insurance policies are sold by the state-run insurance pool, a few private companies also sell earthquake coverage. In order to provide earthquake coverage, insurance companies can become a CEA participating insurance company and offer the CEA’s residential earthquake policies or they can manage the risk themselves. To date, companies that sell over two-thirds of the residential property insurance in the state have opted to become CEA participating companies.

According to the CEA website, the CEA homeowners policy is designed to help get you back into your home after an earthquake. The CEA base-limits policy for homeowners includes:

Dwelling coverage – The coverage limit is the insured value of your home stated on your companion homeowner policy.
* Personal Property coverage – $5,000
* Additional Living Expense/Loss of Use coverage – $1,500
* You may select either a 10% or 15% deductible on your Dwelling coverage, and CEA’s increased-limit options allow you to increase Personal Property coverage to as much as $100,000 and Additional Living Expense/Loss of Use coverage to as much as $15,000.
Residential property insurance includes coverage for homeowners, condominium owners, mobile home owners, and renters.

Earthquake insurance is not intended for smaller losses as you must have enough damage to surpass your deductible. Even though deductibles are generally 10-15% of the amount of the Coverage A limits, it can be a little confusing to calculate the actual deductible amount since there are several factors that go into the formula.

How will your home handle an earthquake – Do you need Earthquake Insurance

- where in San Diego County do you live?
- what is under your house (rock, sand, fill, etc?)
- how is your home constructed – is it up to code and why that matters for your coverage

Age and type of construction contribute to how a residential structure reacts during an earthquake. Based on the scientific and engineering research, the CEA premiums reflect the following rating factors:

- In general, houses built on a slab perform better than those built on a raised foundation.
- One-story houses are less vulnerable to earthquake shaking than multi-story houses.
- Unreinforced masonry structures are more susceptible to damage than those of wood-frame construction.
- Houses of a certain age are not as strongly constructed as others.

The type of home you have affects your risk. One-story homes that are “tied together” — with the roof bolted to the walls, and the walls to the foundation — tend to survive earthquakes and windstorms better than multistory homes that aren’t. As you would expect, houses with big openings, such as plate-glass windows or large garage doors, fare worse than ones without those features.

In addition, your home can be substantially fortified with some special construction measures. For many, this can be a better investment than buying earthquake insurance.

The Institute for Business and Home Safety has a Fortified For Safer Living” program that specifies building techniques that can help homes better withstand disaster.

Other California Earthquake Insurance Factors

No Known Loss Letter Requirement

In areas that have been previously affected by an earthquake or other catastrophic event, an insurer may require a “No Known Loss Letter” with all requests for earthquake insurance or to add earthquake coverage to an existing policy. These kind of letters letter confirms that no known losses or damages have already occurred to the requested coverage location(s).

DIC Policy

DIC (Difference in Conditions) insurance provides coverage designed to close specific gaps in standard insurance policies. It allows coverage to be customized to extend to such exposures as water damage, flood, collapse, earthquake, landslide, etc., according to the insured’s needs. DIC coverage may be provided by means of a separate insurance policy or it may be added by endorsement to the basic policy.

Is Earthquake Insurance Right For You? How Much Equity Do You Have In Your Home?

As mentioned earlier, we view Earthquake coverage as catastrophic insurance. You will only need it if we have a really big earthquake. The more equity you have in your home, the more you need insurance.

According to UnitedPolicyHolders, a non-profit organization that fights for the rights of insurance consumers and educates individuals and businesses on how to get fair treatment, “a generally accepted rule of thumb is that you should not risk more than 10 percent of your liquid assets. A large earthquake could mean 10 to 100 percent of your home’s structure could be damaged or destroyed, up to 20 percent of your belongings could be damaged, and/or you may need to come up with $3,000 a month for temporary rent and relocation costs.”

In San Diego, we get lots of smaller quakes on a regular basis. These are reminders to YOU to review your current coverages to be sure that you are adequately insured. Is your current homeowner’s insurance up to date? Will it pay to rebuild your home to current building codes? Do you have additional coverage and riders for all the new stuff yiou may have acquired since you first bought your insurance policy?

Remember, it is far more likely you will have pipes break or fires start from the smaller earthquakes. If either of these happen, you should have coverage under your regular homeowners policy. Check to make sure it is up to date and that you have enough coverage. As a result of the 2003 and 2007 wildfires, we have found that most homeowners in San Diego are underinsured.

By the way, businesses should review their policies to be sure they have EQSL – or Sprinkler Loss coverage. There is a greater chance you will suffer damage from sprinklers leaking than from a building falling down.

by Ronald Reitz, President of Quality Claims Management

A house is usually the largest asset / investment the average person will ever own during their lifetime and protecting this asset should therefore be a priority in order to maintain any individual’s financial and personal stability.

Would you really be able to afford the cost of replacing your house and all its contents on your own if unforeseen circumstances like fire, flood, burglary or storm were to destroy it? Without home insurance, not only could you be rendered homeless, you stand to lose everything that you have bought to equip your house.

Besides losing your belongings through the natural calamities stated above, you can potentially lose them as a result of theft and without home insurance you may find it hard to replace them.

While you may hate paying the premiums each month, home insurance – also known as hazard insurance or homeowners insurance – is a necessary evil, whether you live in a small house that is all paid for or a huge mansion that you carry a great mortgage on.

A home insurance policy can cover you during the construction of your house but in such cases you need to have the insurance in place before the basement or slab is poured. You will similarly be covered should you decide to carry out renovations on your home.

If you have a mortgaged property, most lenders actually insist that you have a home insurance policy to make sure that their collateral is protected in case something happens to it. You might have no choice in this matter as the mortgage may include a term which requires compulsory home insurance coverage to be effected.

Additionally, home insurance can help protect you from any lawsuits or personal injury claims that may arise if someone were to be injured on your property.

Home insurance is actually a generic term which refers to 2 separate products, contents insurance and buildings insurance.

Standard home insurance policies may not always cover all damages associated with some natural disasters, so getting an endorsement or separate insurance policy in the form of flood insurance or earthquake insurance, etc, might actually be a good idea especially if you live in areas prone to such natural calamities. In any event, it is important to get your home appraised every few years to make sure you have adequate insurance for all the insured perils you envisage or intend to cover.