The Expert Podcast

Natural disasters have been all over the news this year, with fires in the West, hurricanes in Florida, hail storms in Texas, and all kinds of other natural disasters. One of the first things that comes up when these disasters happen is: What happens with insurance? Are you insured for your damages if your house is destroyed? If there’s a tornado or an earthquake, you want to make sure you understand your coverages. Many times, insurance coverage is different for natural disasters than it is for standard losses. For example, if your house catches on fire (God forbid), you normally have fire insurance that covers your house in a certain manner, with certain deductibles.

If it’s a natural disaster like a hurricane, tornado, fire, flood, or sinkhole, there may be different coverages that aren’t the same as what you expect. You want to make sure you understand what you’re covered for and what you aren’t. In some cases, for example, in the West, earthquakes don’t cover replacing your whole house—it’s just a percentage, and you have to eat the difference. If your finances would put you in a bad spot because your insurance doesn’t just rebuild your house, you want to know about that in advance so you know what your risk is and what your potential losses are.

You also want to know what value your house is insured for. Many times, your policy will only cover the actual value of the house and not what it would cost to rebuild the house in today’s market with inflation on materials, lumber, and also labor costs. So you want to look at that value to make sure it’s in the ballpark of what it would take to actually rebuild the house. The other part of the coverage, which sometimes is difficult to understand, is that it rebuilds the house to the current standards. Current building codes might be different, and it might require upgraded materials and upgraded construction techniques. If the amount doesn’t cover that, you could also be deficient, so make sure you check your policy.

We also have information on our website, riskcoverage.com, which will help walk you through it. We have consultations available with licensed insurance agents if you want to get a second opinion on your coverages or get some straight answers about what’s covered and what’s not. We’re glad to help with that.

If you have any kind of homeowners insurance or personal lines, you want to make sure you totally understand the coverage: what is going to kick in, what’s not going to kick in, and what you have to come out of pocket for. Many times, the deductible for a natural disaster is much higher. It might not be just $1,000 or $2,000; it could be 20% or 30% of the loss, which could be pretty expensive.

Thank you for watching. Remember, you can access live, one-on-one personal consultations with a licensed private investigator, a licensed commercial insurance broker, a licensed certified real estate title examiner, and even a certified civil court mediator. If you have a need to talk to an expert in any of these fields—or even a licensed building general contractor—you can click the link below at actualhuman.com and arrange a live, one-on-one, undivided attention with a licensed expert where you can ask any questions, get information about your situation, and we’d be glad to help.