Earthquake Insurance

Ladykat42 · September 2009

Does anyone have it? We checked with our insurance company to see how much it would be for the new house and just earthquake insurance would be $600+ a month. There is no way. Is that typical or outrageous?

I'd really like to get it, but that is just way too high.

BeckiC · September 2009

$600 a month?!?! We don't have it, I know that it's expensive but that sounds crazy. I really have no idea though, we didn't even look into it.

lorik0428 · September 2009

We have it but don't pay nearly that. It's just lumped in with our homeowner's and car insurance (we pay $235/month for everything). We do, however, get our insurance through USAA (military - I'm an Army BRAT) so maybe that makes a difference. I've had other friends tell me though that they don't have it because it is so outrageous to get.

Kasi80 · September 2009

I didn't bother getting it. Our agent said not to. Can't remember his reasoning on it though.

Ladykat42 · September 2009

lorik0428:
We have it but don't pay nearly that. It's just lumped in with our homeowner's and car insurance (we pay $235/month for everything). We do, however, get our insurance through USAA (military - I'm an Army BRAT) so maybe that makes a difference. I've had other friends tell me though that they don't have it because it is so outrageous to get.

Oh yeah, USAA would make a pretty big difference. I'm an AF Brat, but I don't qualify for USAA anything.

Kasi80 · September 2009

USAA actually quoted us $200 more per year than State Farm on homeowners and it was even less coverage than State Farm. Sad

mzjackson · September 2009

holy crap, 600 bucks?!

Unless you're living on an edge of a cliff by the beach, I think you're fine.

Ladykat42 · September 2009

Kasi80:
USAA actually quoted us $200 more per year than State Farm on homeowners and it was even less coverage than State Farm.

Interesting.

klmbride05 · September 2009

My agent said that there is only one company that carries earthquake insurance. It's a state thing or something. Can't remember exactly. But it is expensive (although I don't remember it being that expensive) and it doesn't cover much. So we don't have it. (and we live on a fault line).

RosiePosie84 · September 2009

My BIL is our insurance agent and he advised us not to get it. I forgot the exact reasoning as well, but he did mention that if our house was to get damaged by an earthquake, the deductible would be around $25,000-$30,000..just for the deductible. He mentioned it would be cheaper to pay to replace things that are broken or damaged.

AnnDiDonato · September 2009

That sounds typical, second the huge deductible requirements. A friend gave me good advice, my house was built in 1927, think of all the earthquakes that have happened since 1927, and my house is fine. It is going to take a big shaker to knock it down. If that happens you can get a disaster area loan or something like that from FEMA to rebulid.

Ladykat42 · September 2009

AnnDiDonato:
That sounds typical, second the huge deductible requirements. A friend gave me good advice, my house was built in 1927, think of all the earthquakes that have happened since 1927, and my house is fine. It is going to take a big shaker to knock it down. If that happens you can get a disaster area loan or something like that from FEMA to rebulid.

That's a good point. Our house is 1951, and it's still standing.

brdrski · September 2009

Because California is a major liability to insurance companies - the only place you can get earthquake insurance is through the state of CA's program. You can get it through your own homeowner's carrier, but they get it through the state.

I can't understand why anyone living in California would NOT get it. Would you drive a car without insurance? Regardless of the large deductible (I believe it's 15% of the value of your home, you can pay more to decrease), if there is an earthquake that results in structural damage to your home, that's going to cost a lot to fix. It covers more than just the stuff inside the house. Remember, most houses built 50 years ago were not built with the same seismic standards as today's homes. Ours was built in 1956 and if there's a big one, I want to be able to rebuild.

Just $.02 from the other side.

Cheers,

Jen

Kasi80 · September 2009

I work for a construction company. My husband works there as well. We can rebuild ourselves. I'm not worried about it.

mrsmj2008 · September 2009

We have USAA home owners insurance but since the structural insurance is already covered by the HOA we only have to pay for personal property insurance. USAA told us it would cost us an additional $50 for earthquake insurance but he didnt recommend it because assuming there was an earthquake, we would have a $750 deductible and they will pay out up to 5k. Didnt seem worthwhile to us.

Earthquake Insurance

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