<p>Wonder if it covers the cars??</p>
<p>"Oh my!! I asked DS if he has earthquake insu and he said “yes, with a deductible"but didnt say what that deductible was. His is renters insurance, but lordy, he doesnt own 65K worth of anything!”</p>
<p>For homeowners earthquake coverage deductible is 10-15% of homes value depending on what owner is comforatble with. Considering high property values in CA it’s not uncommon to see a deductible of 65K in many areas. S’s renter’s policy does not include earthquake coverage. He would have had to purchase a separate policy rider for earthquake coverage for his personal stuff. </p>
<p>As to cars: I think if you have a comprehensive policy, car is covered, I think</p>
<p><a href=“FAQs - Insurance Claims | American Family Insurance”>http://www.amfam.com/claims/storm-info/storm-faqs/earthquake.asp</a></p>
<p>Jym- wouldn’t his car insurance cover his car?
My SF kid has both car insurance and renters insurance purchased through our long time agent. Not sure if her I renters insurance covers damage due to earthquake.
We have earthquake insurance on our home, not sure of the cost we also have good fire insurance. I think earthquake insurance in some areas is cost prohibitive. I know people who had damage and claims from the Northridge quake who no longer carry earthquake due to high cost and high deductible. They have instead banked away the cost of the premium to “self insure” in a way. I think earthquake insurance is affordable in areas with lower risk. </p>
<p>We do not have earthquake insurance. We had it prior to the Northridge quake but never had to use it. While there was some significant damage in our area, ours was minimal. After Northridge the premiums went thru the roof and the deductibles went way up so we dropped it and have not had it since. At that time we lived in a high risk fire area and could not get fire insurance through private companies but had to buy it through a government program. Since we were already paying an arm and a leg for that insurance, we decided the earthquake insurance was just to high. I have been through a lot of little quakes and some pretty big quakes-Sylmar in '71(my parents house), Upland very near the epicenter, and Northridge, but have never had much damage. We have friends who walked away from their house after Northridge because it was totally demolished; they just stopped paying the mortgage. They were able to get a new mortgage within a short time and bought a new house, with no real credit issues. Mortgage lenders were very forgiving at that time, but that would probably not be the case now. We have retrofitted our house with bracing and anchors and will just hope for the best when that big one hits. </p>
<p>We have earthquake insurance. The deductible is 15% of the house value 15% for property…in other words if we have a big earthquake we won’t have to knock down the house because the house is dangerous and not fixable. The insurance limits the amount of money and the length of time that they will pay for a rental. We also had to bolt the house.</p>
<p>Is it expensive? Yes. Will it pay off? Hopefully not necessary… To rebuild this house it would be way over a million to build this house with the floors, lathe and plaster…We lived in the valley (our house was already for sale) when the last big earthquake hit. We were lucky. We sold the house because there was no damage. </p>
<p>jym</p>
<p>EI refers to real property insurance, where renters insurance is covering only personal properties and renter’s rights as a renter and it does not cover auto or realty. If a tree falls onto an auto and damaged the car, that is part of home owner’s insurance. Obviously, we all know about auto insurance overages.</p>
<p>CA, especially in the Bay Area, has high EI insurance because the frequency of the earthquake. What I am trying to get is that the insurance company payout attitudes towards the Napa quake to determined whether it is worthwhile to buy EI. Most of the property owners don’t buy EI because it more or less fall into a “self insured” category. We have to pay over $2000 for ANY EI and high deductibles. So, lets say in 10 years, you have already paid $20,000 premium and lets say $70K deductible, unless you endure a total loss, the insurance company basically won’t pay you any thing before the damage is over 90K, with 90K, you almost can restore the home with substantial damages, including foundation repair.</p>
<p>Had the earthquake dose not hit in 30 years, you will be a bid loser. </p>
<p>The most damaging thing is the attitude of the insurance companies. Unless the house is totally leveled, they will send an adjuster to assess the damage and the results may not be what you liked. I had a client who’s business property got burned down and she had to goto the court to fight the insurance company. The insurance companies often use technical errors made by the insured to avoid paying claims. </p>
<p>I guess as was posted by Bevhills, a lot depends on the equity one has in the house, how much of a chunk the insurance premiums takes out of your family budget and how comfortable you are with self insuring. We have hurricane coverage, which is the closest thing we have to earthquake insurance. When our budget was slim, we went some years without any hurricane insurance, but now that we can afford to put it back in the budget, we have added it back in because absorbing the cost of a total loss for us would be too much–6 figures. We rather pay about $2K/year than possibly have to come up with $250K or more to rebuild the house if it is totaled in hurricane.</p>
<p>As was posted, it’s always cost/perceived benefit.</p>
<p>When you go up against an insurance to get them to perform what they contracted to do it is call bad faith. I know something about that…and I have never worked outside the home. </p>
<p>My sister got some money from the earthquake insurance, something like 20% of the house value. Her house was in Van Nuys near the Northrodge earthquake epicente. She did some minor fixing but otherwise she did make out ok.
I pay car insurance for years and never had an accident until a few years back. The car was totaled so totaled.
My earthquake insurance premium was reduced due to multiple discount through AAA. It has the deductibe 10-15% of the house value but the house worth a lot more than the premium so I don’t take the risk at all. I have no idea when the big earthquake will come either.</p>
<p>Why does AAA cover this stuff?</p>
<p>Even if you don’t live in California the question of carrying earthquake insurance can come up. </p>
<p>Here in Chicago, earthquakes are not a major concern so coverage is not very expensive and deductibles are typcially only 2%. However, there is some real earthquake damage risk with the New Madrid fault that follows the Mississippi River valley near Memphis and St. Louis. New Madrid is way overdue for a major tremor - its last major quake over a hundred years ago rang church bells in Boston. So here, if you own your home free and clear, investing several hundred dollars for coverage might not be a bad idea. While a major quake probably wouldn’t leave your home in rubble, it very likely could break all/most of the windows, crack the walls and foundation or even shift a house off its foundation, in addition to usual breakage. Some people will say its worth the price of a couple of lottery tickets a week to have the coverage.</p>
<p>EDIT - I should say DW use to work for a major international insurance company and the actuaries at her firm were the ones that told her to be sure and have this coverage - not our insurance agent.</p>
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<p><a href=“Should you buy earthquake insurance, is it worth it? - Consumer Reports”>Should you buy earthquake insurance, is it worth it? - Consumer Reports;
<p>South Carolina and Tennessee residents-- get your earthquake insurance!</p>
<p>Not wishing anything bad on anyone but from my experience after Northridge earthquake, if you ever need to file an earthquake claim, make sure you find a reliable contractor ASAP as they will be quite busy. Many fly by night contractors will suddenly appear, be very careful. Also unless you are fluent in construction jargon/codes, make sure you have the contractor with you while adjuster is present. Adjusters tend to see a lot of damage as pre earthquake damage and not covered. It’s best to have someone who speaks the lingo on your side from day one.</p>
<p>AAA covers insurance for house, cars, and landlords.</p>
<p>I think in CA, the only EI you can get is the government one’s, no one else is willing to take on the chance. Tell me if I am wrong!</p>
<p>Yes, but AAA, Allstate and a slew of other insurance companies sell the earthquake insurance and it varies widely.</p>
<p>I think by law if company sells property insurance they must offer EI either government’s plan or their own.</p>
<p>@drgoogle</p>
<p>All insurance companies sell EI insurance in CA but they only sell one kind-the CEA insurance. for example AAA</p>
<p>“You can purchase earthquake insurance through AAA from the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). AAA offers policies tailored for differing needs, with a variety of options available. The CEA, a publicly managed, privately funded organization created by the state legislature, has provided earthquake insurance since 1996. Today, the CEA is the largest residential earthquake insurance organization in the world.”</p>
<p>Therefore, for EI you have no comparison of premiums, it is a monopoly. We switched from Farmers to Safeco, we got a lower rate on Home Owners Insurance, but the EI from CEA remains the same. At first, the Safeco agent quoted me a lower rate on EI, but actually he made a mistake and CEA soon corrected that mistake, so the premium was not changed.</p>
<p>art, yes it the same type, CEA insurance, but the premium varies. I had Allstate for years and then I switched to AAA and the premium dropped 50%. Maybe because I had multiple discount with AAA.</p>