Entries Tagged 'home insurance' ↓

In the wake of damage caused by hurricane/tropical storm Irene, many are left wondering how they will pay their deductible and what their claims will be like. For those lucky enough to escape the storm, many are rightly concerned with the possibility that the next one might strike their home. What will happen? If you have hurricane coverage, your insurer will take care of you, but you might have to pay a special deductible.

Hurricane Deductibles Versus Normal Deductibles

In places where hurricanes hit regularly, such as Florida, Georgia, and pretty much the entire Atlantic coastline, Gulf coastline, and New England, insurance companies do not charge a normal deductible. Instead, they charge a hurricane deductible.

The difference is that, rather than the flat amount you pay with a standard deductible, you pay a percentage of the market value of your home. So, if your home is worth $300 thousand and your hurricane deductible is 2 percent, you pay $6 thousand. This is almost always more than a standard deductible, such as $750.

Companies do this to save themselves thousands of dollars per home in claims, since they often have to pay to fix thousands of homes per hurricane.

Unless you live right on the coastline, in which case your deductible may be very high, hurricane deductibles rarely stray from the one to five percent range.

All states and districts subject to hurricane deductibles are:
The South and Southwest
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia
The North and Northeast
Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island
Other
Hawaii, Washington, D.C.

Will Victims of Irene Have to Pay Hurricane Deductibles?

Hurricane Irene is tricky case, since it was not a hurricane the whole time. Before it hit New York and New Jersey, as well as Vermont and other more northern areas, Irene was downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm. While you might think this would be a straightforward case of nobody having to pay hurricane deductibles, the reality is different.

In New York and New Jersey, state regulators have declared that homeowners should not have to pay hurricane deductibles. So far, several insurers have come out and said that is the case and that they will not be charging more than the standard deductibles. However, other states have been less clear. Continue reading →

The year 2011 has been one for record natural disasters. The Texas wildfires currently raging are already causing never-before-seen damage in the state to forests, animal habitats, and human homes. This damage continues hurting even after the fires are done. The only thing protecting homeowners in the 25 thousand scorched acres is insurance.
Big disasters can be huge tests of the viability of an insurance company. Make sure your insurer is up to the test.

Damage from Wildfires

Wildfires have always been a problem in the Southwest and always will be, if climate change doesn’t turn it into a tropical zone. The problem will likely only get worse as more of the precious few water resources are tapped out in Texas and other border states.
Wildfires can start from almost anything, whether it be spontaneous combustion from the sun or a cigarette tossed into the woods. The key is parched woodland from lack of rain, intense sunlight, and heat. Once a fire gets going, it’s very hard to stop. Part of the reason is the incredible amount of fuel available – so many trees – and another part is the inability to predict which way it goes. Fires spread by wind to anywhere where a flame or even an ember can blow.
In this Texas wildfire, 500 homes are already been destroyed in the conflagration, with no end in sight. The 25 thousand acres of land affected could double or triple before this is over, the fire department says. Continue reading →