Californians: Earthquake Insurance?

[ha98ed14]

I have a renter's insurance policy on our belongings with loss of use and 100K personal liabilty. I wanted to add earthquake insurance and the company will not let me, even if I were to change apartments or buy a house and get a homeowner's policy with them. If I do business with them, they will not allow me to add earthquake insurance for 2 years on any policy I have with them. Does this sound right?

If anyone is willing to share the name of their insuance comppnay (that they are happy with), I am thinking of completely changing companies to get earthquake insurance. DH thinks we don't need it because he doesn't think we will lose anything. But ultimately of I want it, he will agree. Do you carry it and do you think it is worth it?

[baymom]

Well, I know this isn't really answering your question, but here goes. We are mandated to have earthquake and flood insurance by our morgage company and it is luckily included in our HOA fees. We have separate home insurance (and car insurance) through Amica which we LOVE. They are very reasonably priced, very responsive (dh got in a car accident recently) and have all around outstanding costumer service. I wonder if they offer earthquake insurance? I think it might be worthwhile to check...I think you'd be really happy with them. We just didn't need it separately, so that's why I'm not sure.. Good luck!!

[pharmjenn]

We do not have earthquake, although it was offered. The cost is incredibly high, plus there is usually a huge deductible. I think when I last looked a few years ago, it was like 20% of the value of you house. So for a $500,000 house, you would have to pay out $100,000 yourself before the insurance kicked in. I live far enough off the San Andreas fault that I didn't see that happening.

[ha98ed14]

Thanks for the replies! Anyone Else? I know there are more CA moms on here. Do you think it is worth it to have earthquake insurance?

[amandabea]

I dropped my blackberry when I was typing my response so here's a quick summary.

We're in CA and do not have earthquake ins. It is really expensive and your house has to basically crumble to make it pay off. Plus the deductibles are very high. I don't think there are many ins cos that even offer it anymore - I think there might be some coverage you can get through the state, but I'm not sure. Bottom line for us was that we just can't afford to carry the coverage.

[egoldber]

We did not when we owned a home in the Bay Area. It had a very high deductible like the PP said. Our property was worth 600K, BUT the house and contents were not worth that. Replacement value of the house itself was only about 200K and since the deductible was 100K it was not worth it IMO.

[rlu]

We didn't do earthquake insurance either. My extended family live in CA as well, and I think the majority of us don't. I know my aunt and uncle estimate annual earthquake ins premiums and invest them, figuring this is a better way to obtain money to repair/replace their house if ever necessary. That's their version of earthquake insurance. The rest of us live in faith/hope/denial.

[IDcam]

We did have Earthquake coverage through AAA. It was expensive and went up every year. For about $300k coverage (that's what they said would cost to rebuild our house and mirrored our Homeowners policy coverage) we paid about $400-$500/yr. With AAA, they do offer something like "an unlimited replacement cost" where they will pay past your coverage amount to get our house rebuilt. We are now with Wawanesa Insurance (based in San Diego). While their Earthquake rates are cheaper, they will only pay out up to 120% of your coverage amount. The deductible with AAA was 10% and Wawanesa 15%. We eventually dropped our Earthquake coverage. Just too expensive.

BTW, I was told if an earthquake ends up starting a house fire then your regular Homeowners policy will supersede the Earthquake policy.

[khm]

I never knew anyone with earthquake insurance when I lived in the bay area. We didn't own a home out there, but a good friend told me that it was so expensive and so unlikely to actually pay out that they just didn't bother. They were incredibly research-oriented and financially responsible people, so I assumed that they knew what they were talking about!

[Globetrotter]

Our agent really discouraged us from getting it, and I don't believe any of our friends have it either. DH is still interested, but I don't know if it's worth it!

[IDcam]

With AAA, they do offer something like "an unlimited replacement cost" where they will pay past your coverage amount to get our house rebuilt. We are now with Wawanesa Insurance (based in San Diego). While their Earthquake rates are cheaper, they will only pay out up to 120% of your coverage amount.

OOPS!! All that percentage talk was just about our Homeowners policy coverage. With an Earthquake policy, whatever coverage is listed is what you get. Sorry for the confusion!!

One more thing, I was recently shopping around and found that most insurance companies believe it will take between $175-$190/sq.ft. to rebuild. We live right near where the San Diego fires torched over 300 homes in 2007. =( I'm more worried about wildfires now than earthquakes.

[niccig]

We didn't get it. Like the others said it's very expensive. We also live in part of the Valley that's supposed to be more stable because on bedrock - I think that's what we were told. Our house is 80 years old and there's no cracks in the foundation at all - we got it inspected as part of house inspection and the inspector was impressed at age and state of foundation. Like the others, we hope we'll be fine. We're building up an emergency fund, trying to save as much as we can, so if the worst happens, that will be our earthquake $$.

[kozachka]

We did not have it when we lived in Bay Area and San Diego. Nor did we know anyone who had it. It was too expensive with huge deductible.

We were also told that if an earthquake ends up starting a house fire then your regular Homeowners policy will supersede the Earthquake policy.