Earthquake insurance in Anchorage (mortgage, appliances, loans)

[equinox1]

Interesting, Cathy. I know what you are saying about the insurance companies. My RV was broken into 2 summers ago, they broke the locks which cost 750 to repair and took about 750-1000 in stuff. Despite paying all that insurance on cars/rv for years, the agent told me not to file. It would have been 500 deductible TWICE. Once for contents and once for the damaged locks.

However, last year my tornado damage was about 30000 and I was very glad to have insurance. I'm not sure what I'll do about the insurance, esp with it being a condo.

DD has S. F. earthquake insurance in St louis. : )

[TL551]

I have Allstate too. When my auto and rental insurance was due for a yearly renewal, I did ask about it. They did offer me a quote but as someo else said, it is pricey.

[bongo]

Originally Posted by equinox1

I'm buying a condo east of the U off Boniface. I'd expected all Anchorage condo assns to have earthquake insurance, but have found that's not the case. It seems almost pointless to buy it as an individual. I've looked at maps and it is in a zone 2 or 3 with moderate or moderately low ground failure sususceptibility and it is a frame building. I was in Fairbanks for the 2002 Denali Fault quake and hope to never be in a bigger one.

So, if you live in Anchorage, do you have earthquake insurance?

It's a bit different with a condo, equinox, since the condo association insures the outside of the building & the condo owner insures the inside. That could be tricky with homeowner earthquake insurance. I'm not sure how that would interface.

[cuatro01]

Originally Posted by AK-Cathy

I have earthquake insurance through Allstate.

Say what? Our earthquake insurance through Allstate was cancelled about 5 years ago. We had it for at least 6 years and then got the letter saying that it would not be renewed at the end of the policy. We inquired and they said that they weren't offering it in AK any more. Was it our neighborhood (Westchester) or do we need a new agent?

I think the policy is actually written by a different company other than Allstate, but I bought it through my Allstate agent.

[Dakster]

Originally Posted by bongo

It's a bit different with a condo, equinox, since the condo association insures the outside of the building & the condo owner insures the inside. That could be tricky with homeowner earthquake insurance. I'm not sure how that would interface.

It should work like any other homeowners insurance. Your insurance covers your property that gets damaged as a result of the EQ and the condo's insurance covers the structure itself.

Unless I am missing something? Which is possible - EQ, Flood, and Hurricane insurance all seem to have their quirks.

At least that is how it works down here with Hurricanes. I had an Apartment with renters insurance and Hurricane Andrew completely destroyed it. I was reimbursed for my personal things and loss of use - and the Apartment's owners insurance covered rebuilding the apartment complex... (Roof, outside walls, inside walls, doors, kitchen appliances, flooring...) If I didn't have any insurance I would not have gotten reimbursed for my personal belongings, but I still wouldn't have been on the hook for the structure damages... And of course, my rental agreement was voided as there was no apartment to move back into for months...

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by AK-Cathy

We decided to get earthquake insurance after we saw interior photos of one of the California quakes in the 90s. Even with little to no structural damage to the buildings, the interiors of those homes were completely tossed with significant damage to the contents. Since we had very good antique furniture, crystal/china, vintage pottery and artwork and lived in a vulnerable area we thought it wise to have the coverage before we were summarily cancelled. However if memory serves our deductible was so high that it would have taken a rather large quake that would have likely caused structural damage to make the extra insurance pay off. It seemed like a good idea at the time and given the area of Anchorage that we were living in at the time but IMO it was probably a waste of money on hindsight. We've since downsized to a small and sturdy 64 earthquake survivor, pared our belongings and will self insure in case of earthquake.

Frankly I've begun to view homeowner's insurance as a semi-necessary "racket". If we could pay a much smaller premium for catastrophic loss/liability alone with a hefty deductible in the neighborhood of 20K, we'd do it because if you make a claim, they are going to make it difficult to get coverage on another home (you're considered high risk afterward) so why bother with the smaller stuff at all? When we asked about that, the difference in premium was not enough to do it.

Anecdotal story about insurance claims: About 7 years ago a co-worker bought a condo in Palm Springs. They had a terrible time getting the required homeowner's insurance because two years prior to the purchase they made a $200 claim on a stolen laptop computer on their primary homeowner's insurance policy. The loss was covered but they were declined coverage by a number of insurance companies for their condo as a result. The situation substantially held up closing and they almost lost their earnest money. When I related that story to our agent he was not in the last surprised, in fact he said that it was a fairly common experience. Like I said, racket.

My distrust of multi-national corporations to really have you in "good hands" aside, good luck with your search for the coverage.

A couple comments:

1) It's generally a wise move to self-insure as much as possible since once you factor in expenses, commissions, taxes, profits etc. actual loss payments are probably only 80cents or so on the dollar for most personal lines insurance. With that said, the profit per policy depending upon what type of insurance it is and prevailing interest rates is likely to be something in the 2-6% range.

2) All-state really isn't much of a multi-national company. They write some stuff in Canada but pretty much they are just this huge insurer in the US. Not sure that really changes anything.

3) Shop around. Always. All-state has made some well-documented policy shifts and if you don't like them then vote with your wallet. Unless your state has jacked up the market (points at Florida and sighs) you should have a lot of options.

Allstate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Dakster

It should work like any other homeowners insurance. Your insurance covers your property that gets damaged as a result of the EQ and the condo's insurance covers the structure itself.

Unless I am missing something? Which is possible - EQ, Flood, and Hurricane insurance all seem to have their quirks.

At least that is how it works down here with Hurricanes. I had an Apartment with renters insurance and Hurricane Andrew completely destroyed it. I was reimbursed for my personal things and loss of use - and the Apartment's owners insurance covered rebuilding the apartment complex... (Roof, outside walls, inside walls, doors, kitchen appliances, flooring...) If I didn't have any insurance I would not have gotten reimbursed for my personal belongings, but I still wouldn't have been on the hook for the structure damages... And of course, my rental agreement was voided as there was no apartment to move back into for months...

Good post, yeah anytime you get mixed up with different people having different insurable interests it can get messy.

EQ, Flood and Hurricane are all unique animals just due to their sheer catastrophic nature and vastly varying exposure. This is why the coverage isn't include standard and here is why:

Company A includes flood coverage, B doesn't.

People with no flood exposure are going to buy from B because they will be cheaper.
A gets stuck with all the flood exposed houses.

[bongo]

Originally Posted by Dakster

It should work like any other homeowners insurance. Your insurance covers your property that gets damaged as a result of the EQ and the condo's insurance covers the structure itself.

Unless I am missing something? Which is possible - EQ, Flood, and Hurricane insurance all seem to have their quirks.

At least that is how it works down here with Hurricanes. I had an Apartment with renters insurance and Hurricane Andrew completely destroyed it. I was reimbursed for my personal things and loss of use - and the Apartment's owners insurance covered rebuilding the apartment complex... (Roof, outside walls, inside walls, doors, kitchen appliances, flooring...) If I didn't have any insurance I would not have gotten reimbursed for my personal belongings, but I still wouldn't have been on the hook for the structure damages... And of course, my rental agreement was voided as there was no apartment to move back into for months...

Agreed- however the OP implied that the condo association does not have earthquake insurance as part of the association insurance for the outside of the building. So the outside structure is not insured for earthquakes.

If the OP gets condo owner's insurance, only the inside & personal affects will be covered.

[Dakster]

Originally Posted by bongo

Agreed- however the OP implied that the condo association does not have earthquake insurance as part of the association insurance for the outside of the building. So the outside structure is not insured for earthquakes.

If the OP gets condo owner's insurance, only the inside & personal affects will be covered.

Yep and there really is no way for the OP to get complete coverage for the building... If you buy it and there is an EQ you may lose all of your equity in the place and *have* to make payments on a house you no longer have. If you rent, no worries, your stuff is covered and then you leave.

I wish hurricane insurance down here was 'optional' - as I probably wouldn't have it. It now costs WAY too much.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Dakster

Yep and there really is no way for the OP to get complete coverage for the building... If you buy it and there is an EQ you may lose all of your equity in the place and *have* to make payments on a house you no longer have. If you rent, no worries, your stuff is covered and then you leave.

I wish hurricane insurance down here was 'optional' - as I probably wouldn't have it. It now costs WAY too much.

If you think hurricane insurance is bad now, wait for the next Andrew to hit.

It's partly exacerbated by the political clowns whom have alienated insurance companies as they try to pin the blame on them.

Once citizens implodes it's going to be one gigantic mess.