Earthquakes can cause major damage to your home. More severe earthquakes can leave your home uninhabitable and needing to be rebuilt, while more minor damage can still destroy your personal belongings. Hopefully your home is never affected by an earthquake. But if it is, it’s important to make sure that your insurance covers the damage.
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No, standard homeowners insurance policies don’t cover damage caused by earthquakes. However, your insurance will usually cover damage that results from a fire that follows an earthquake.
That means that if an earthquake occurs and you don’t have specialized coverage, you will be responsible for any damage that occurs.
If you want to make sure that your home is protected in case of an earthquake, then you will need to buy earthquake insurance.
Earthquake insurance is a specialized policy that you can add on to your traditional homeowners insurance policy. Earthquake insurance helps to cover repair costs that result from earthquake damage. While your exact coverage will depend on your policy, most earthquake insurance policies include:
Earthquake insurance helps with many expenses, but it doesn’t cover everything. Most policies won’t cover damage from fire, water, or sinkholes. Additionally, your insurance usually won’t cover earthquake coverage to your motor vehicles, fences, landscaping, or swimming pool.
Whether or not earthquake insurance is worth it depends on the risk of earthquakes in your area and your financial situation. If you live in an area that frequently experiences earthquakes, buying earthquake insurance can give you valuable peace of mind. You should also consider whether you could afford to repair or replace your home after an earthquake. If not, and there’s a risk of earthquakes in your location, then this insurance may be worth it.
Understanding what you’ll need to pay for insurance can also help you to decide if buying an earthquake policy is worth it. The cost of your earthquake insurance depends on many factors, including your home’s location and age, the number of stories in your home, the cost to rebuild your home, your coverage limits, and your deductible.
Since policy costs can vary so much, getting a quote will give you the most accurate idea of what your insurance will cost. You can get a free earthquake insurance quote online today to start exploring coverage options and your potential costs. From there, you can decide if it makes sense to buy this specialized coverage.
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Paige Cerulli Paige Cerulli is a freelance content writer and journalist who specializes in personal finance topics. She graduated from Westfield State University and brings more than a decade of professional writing experience to the ConsumerCoverage team. Paige’s work has appeared in outlets including USA Today, Business Insider, and more.
