Thank you in advance for taking the time to review this months Alandale Advisor.  We appreciate the time those of you took to complete our Client Satisfaction Survey that started in October 2005. The overall satisfaction level of 86.6% means we have room for improvement.  The thoughts, suggestions and ideas presented by those that participated are very useful in our management of that improvement.  Thanks again.

 

In an effort to address one concern of education I would like to highlight a coverage that is of concern and mystery to many Insurance Consumers, Earthquake Insurance.

The residential insurance market was totally transformed in 1994. After paying for hundreds of thousands of claims from the Northridge earthquake, insurers grew concerned that another earthquake would exhaust their resources. Many stopped selling homeowners insurance and began notifying policyholders their insurance would not be renewed. There quickly developed an insurance availability crisis, with about 93% of insurers in California either restricting sales or not selling at all.  By law, insurance companies that sell homeowners coverage in California must offer earthquake insurance, too. One of the remedies considered by legislators in 1995 and 1996 was to repeal that law, to strike down the mandatory earthquake offer - but that answer would have left millions of homeowners unprotected, and it ultimately was rejected. Instead the Legislature took two notable actions to resolve the crisis of insurance availability: 

The first was to specify in 1995 that the minimum policy of earthquake insurance that residential insurers must offer is a "catastrophic" policy of property protection. This policy, known as the "mini-policy," carries up to a 15% deductible based on the home's insured value, no detached-structure coverages, and other provisions that were scaled back from typical pre-Northridge policies.

 

The second was to establish the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) in 1996.

Provided you maintain Homeowners Insurance with our office, your insurance carrier will offer you one of the above options. The cost of an earthquake policy is based on a number of factors, including your home’s location, age, construction type, and value.

We also have appointments with Pacific Select and GeoVera Insurance Companies that many times offer better coverage options for less premium.  

If you are interested in pursuing more information and rates on Earthquake Insurance for your property(ies), please don't hesitate to contact our office. 

We appreciate the opportunity to share this information with you and hope you find The Alandale Advisor an insightful tool.