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Old 12-04-2007, 12:01 PM
 
16 posts, read 40,423 times
Reputation: 17

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We are buying a home in the Monterey area on a hill. We are struggling with whether to buy earthquake insurance. It sounds like you can get a better deal with a "stand-alone" policy than one from a company (state farm, fireman's etc) that provides your homeowner's insurance (who have quoted us 5-figure annual rates!!!! Yikes!) What have others' experiences with this been? We wouldn't know where to start, since there seem to be several co's that offer this insurance and we know no one here...the few people we have met don't have this coverage, but it makes us nervous NOT to have it, too...

Thoughts or experiences, anyone?
Thanks
Lisa

Last edited by lisaonthemove; 12-04-2007 at 12:03 PM.. Reason: clarification
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Old 12-04-2007, 12:40 PM
 
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
6,957 posts, read 22,225,232 times
Reputation: 6468
Looking at a historical earthquake map of California it doesn't appear that the Monterey peninsula is subject to very many earthquakes at all and there are no major earthquakes on the map in that area. (4.0 and higher) I don't know what the Loma Prieta quake experience was in Monterey, but I suspect it didn't do any damage in the area.

You may want to not purchase that insurance at all.

Here is the shake map from Loma Prieta

Shakemap ncLomaPrieta
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Old 12-04-2007, 01:11 PM
 
Location: Northern California
3,719 posts, read 14,673,062 times
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I have lived here my whole life and have never had earthquake insurance. It's way too expensive and the deductable is real high (in the 5 figures). I don't know too many people who have earthquake insurance anyways. The chances of a severe enough earthquake doing severe damage to your house are not high (unless you live on a fault line or your house is built on landfill). Most earthquakes are moderate and don't do much damage and with the high deductable the moderate damage you would sustain wouldn't be covered anyways.
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Old 12-04-2007, 01:41 PM
 
Location: San Jose, CA
7,688 posts, read 29,055,970 times
Reputation: 3629
I don't have earthquake insurance for my personal property as a renter either. It costs as much as the rest of the policy for much less coverage, and the prices go out of control as you raise the payout limits. That quake we had a month ago did no damage at all.
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Old 12-04-2007, 01:57 PM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
2,114 posts, read 3,285,378 times
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I'm on the peninsula, in Millbrae. My homeowners insurance is through Fireman's Fund and my earthquate insurance is too. Every year, when the policy renews for the next year, I always think it's the last year I'll continue with the earthquake coverage. It's so expensive. I'm paying nearly $1500 just for earthquake insurance, and the deductable is now $91,850. It goes up a LOT every year. On the other hand, the dwelling liability is over $600,000, so nice to know if my house has a lot of damage I can have it fixed. I own my home and I would want to continue living here.
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Old 12-05-2007, 12:58 AM
 
Location: In a room above Mr. Charrington's shop
2,916 posts, read 11,042,187 times
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After the '94 Northridge quake, I heard too many sad stories from people without earthquake insurance, and enough "thank-God" stories from people with the insurance to decide to get it on our house.

We have a policy from the California Earthquake Authority in addition to our homeowners insurance policy. The CAE costs us around $400/yr for a single family standalone house. The deductible is quite high, but our house is on a slab foundation in an area known for liquefaction, so a good shaker could crack up the foundation and total the house. We figure the deductible is a small price to pay to get the house replaced should a big enough earthquake happen.
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Old 12-05-2007, 04:02 AM
 
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
6,957 posts, read 22,225,232 times
Reputation: 6468
Both the OP and I live in places where EQ's are very rare and even when they happen are very mild. If I lived anywhere near (20 miles) of an EQ fault zone, I'd consider EQ insurance.

I'm not buying hurricane insurance for the same reason
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Old 12-05-2007, 07:40 AM
 
889 posts, read 3,107,913 times
Reputation: 362
Quote:
Originally Posted by lisaonthemove View Post
We are buying a home in the Monterey area on a hill. We are struggling with whether to buy earthquake insurance. It sounds like you can get a better deal with a "stand-alone" policy than one from a company (state farm, fireman's etc) that provides your homeowner's insurance (who have quoted us 5-figure annual rates!!!! Yikes!) What have others' experiences with this been? We wouldn't know where to start, since there seem to be several co's that offer this insurance and we know no one here...the few people we have met don't have this coverage, but it makes us nervous NOT to have it, too...

Thoughts or experiences, anyone?
Thanks
Lisa
I'd say not. Both my parents have lived in Monterey for over 60 years and myself for over 40 untill recently. With the exception of the 89' earthquake that did no structural damage there's never been one so big that it does major damage.The problem is it is so expensive and the probabilty if you will need it nil.
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Old 12-05-2007, 11:02 AM
 
1,297 posts, read 5,493,390 times
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If monterey hills indicates low probability/suseptibility to earthquake damage, it would be reflected in the annual cost.
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Old 12-05-2007, 11:10 AM
 
4,610 posts, read 11,073,725 times
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We had it when we lived in Southern California. We paid around $3,000-$4,000 a year with a deductible of $50,000. When we move back we will get it again. It's just part of living in our area but I don't know about the Monterey area pacifically. Here in Texas we have hail and wind/tornado insurance among other insurance that was not needed in California.
But wasn't there an earthquake in Paso Robles a couple years ago that killed some people? If it was me, I would get it. Insurance is for the "just in case" scenarios. You may never use it but if you ever needed it, you would be glad you had it.
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