Earthquake Insurance . . .

My insurance just renewed and the premium increased by $9000-- annually.

Any recommendations for an insurance agency in the north bay?
My agent is in Portland.

Thanks,
Patrick

This is a more general question that might be better in Asylum. Ours doubled as well, and I haven’t decided if I’m going to pay it. With such a high deductible (I think like $60k), it’s probably not worth having, particularly at the new prices. Couple of news articles on the topic:

My personal fear is that the next really “big one” in the central Bay Area somewhere is going to be so damaging and deadly that there will be unbelievable damage and destruction, not only from the quake itself, but from ensuing fires. If it were to happen on a red flag fire day, huge swaths of the Bay Area could go up in flames. If that happens, we won’t stay here, we would just pick up and resettle somewhere else. The state and federal government will have no choice but to step in and provide massive rebuilding funds.

But the short answer is that earthquake insurance isn’t provided by any of the big private insurers, it’s the California Earthquake Authority, a non-profit organization run by a state governing board. Your insurance agent has no control over premiums, though you might be able to change the terms of your policy.

Thank you Alan.

To clarify, this is insurance for my wine.

Well, in my best Emily Litella voice: “Never mind”

I use AIG Private for my cellar collection. Wine and Spirits both covered for many perils including, theft, fire, quake, in transit and also spoilage. Have had no issue with my renewal and fairly reasonable. Your collection is likely larger as you are ITB, but not sure what you are referring to.

In terms of Alan’s statement, not sure I completely agree. I am in the industry and do a ton of DIC (Difference in Conditions aka Quake, Flood, etc). For commercial as well as private, many large carriers are still very much in the game. That said, because of the Property issues which have devastated many states, including CA Wildfires, markets are very hard right now mainly due to Reinsurance Treaties changing and those treaties overlap so although quake and flood aren’t necessarily things that have caused issues as of late, they all follow the same increases. This is likely temporary as I think (as it always does), will soften in a couple of years, but right now the carriers need to get some padding back.

Eric, that makes sense for fire and flood, but as I understand it, EQ is not covered by any private insurers, it’s through the CEA. Their rationale for raising rates seems to be that “better science” gives them a better ability to estimate damages and come up with supposedly more realistic numbers. Frankly, given how infrequent quakes are, and the randomness of where one might strike and the damage it might cause, I doubt they have truly realistic numbers. But they know they will need a LOT of money - frankly, IMO, nowhere near what the true costs of recovery will be. Anyway, my point is that the private insurers covering fire and flood who have taken a bath in recent years aren’t on the hook for EQ.

If it matters, it is a Marine Stock Throughput policy via Lloyd’s of London.

My quake is written through Palomar, not the Ca EQ Authority. Although CEA writes a large amount of quake they aren’t the only show in town.

That may be because you’re not in an area threatened by major quakes. Here in the Bay Area, I don’t think there are any private insurers writing EQ policies, at least that’s what I’ve been told by State Farm. But we’re talking structures, not wine, so that’s obviously different for Patrick.

Patrick - Are we talking commercial wine in bottles and not private collection?

Yes, as part of my import/distribution inventory.

My response was only in regard to the statement about only CEA being able to provide. That said, on the commerical side, as that’s a part of what I do for my day job, although DIC rates are skyrocketing, there are absolutely markets writing quake.

That’s interesting. I assume they can be pretty selective about what commercial structures they choose to insure. Are there any companies insuring residential structures?

There are regularly moratoriums which occur in areas within “X” miles from the epicenter, but those are usually 30-60 days. Construction type, age, etc are also factors, but there are carriers out there who write Quake. Many are non admitted, but there are some admitted players as well.

Patrick I’m not located where you are but I have been looking hard at farm & winery insurance which has a small overlap with what you are needing with the exception that we do not need earthquake insurance. However, that being said many of these insurers do business in California and must be providing it. The following are primary insurance companies but many do have local agent lookup searches.

PAK Programs which is part of the Great American Insurance Group … Insurance for alcohol distributors & importers - PAK Programs
Chubb Insurance … Insurance for Wineries & Vineyards | Chubb …they do wineries but not sure about your specific needs
ECM Insurance … Breweries and Wineries | Businesses | EMC Insurance Companies … they do wineries but not sure about your specific needs
The Hanover / AIX Group … https://www.hanover.com/business-insurance-mid-sized-craftbrewers.html … as above need to check specifics
Travelers Insurance …Breweries and the Craft of Managing Risks | Travelers Insurance …check specifics
Liberty Mutual … Manufacturing - Liberty Mutual Business Insurance …check specifics
Nationwide Insurance … https://www.nationwide.com/business/insurance/industries/types/breweries …check specifics

Many of the links are to the brewery industry but it indicates that they must be providing product loss coverage and thus worth the check to see if they fit your specific need…Good luck, Gary