You can't buy no insurance when de storms winds blow...

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As some of you may recall I'm in the process of buying my first homestead and a part of that process is securing the home owner's insurance that mortgage lenders require. We don't close until the end of the month so just at the moment I'm only collecting quotes but every agent I called today made it very clear that they could give me a *quote* but they could NOT sell me any insurance today, tomorrow and likely not Sunday either until tropical storm Gabrielle passes out of the area. She came ashore several hundred miles to the south of me here and likely isn't going to come within a hundred miles of the house but no go on buying any insurance *today*. Good thing I only wanted a quote! Just struck me as funny the lengths they went to in making me understand what the situation was. Of course the season runs until the end of November so Murphy says we'll catch another the day before we're supposed to close. Gee, and hurricane season only lasts for six months out of the year!

So, for you folks way up there in the real snow belt states do your insurance companies refuse to sell policies when blizzards blow in or are we unfortunates in the Gulf and Southeastern Atlantic states just discriminated against?;)

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (oneliveoak@yahoo.com), September 14, 2001

Answers

Earthquake insurance is not available for 30 days after any quake, so you're not alone.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), September 14, 2001.

Insurance companies seem to have gotten much stricter in the last decade. If you are buying an abode with owner financing, check with a few insurance places before signing on the dotted line. If the replacement costs are a lot higher than the purchase price you might have a hard time finding coverage. [I know my post has nothing to do with the weather implications of insuring but I thought it might help somebody]

-- pcha (pcha@ludl.tds.net), September 14, 2001.

Just a niggling thought in the back of my mind... are hijacked planes crashing into tall buildings concidered "acts of God" by insurance companies?

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), September 14, 2001.

I heard on the radio that loss of life, and property damages due to acts of war and acts of terrorism are not payable by the policies. Uncle Sam better get out his checkbook (I think Congress set up 40 billion to start with.)

-- rick K (rick_122@hotmail.com), September 14, 2001.

You should not expect someone to insure you when a storm is bearing down on you even if it is small.

-- ed (edfrhes@aol.com), September 15, 2001.


They were talking about it on the TV, and someone from some insurance company (don't remember which) said that just because the President called it an "act of war" didn't make it one for insurance purposes.

And when you think about it, he (the insurance person) is probably correct. When I think of "an act of war" I'm thinking along the lines of the blitz in England in WWII, and I think most would say the same.

I think war actually has to be declared first....but knowing most (not all) insurance companies, they will weasel out of paying anything they can. That's why no one can understand the contracts to begin with, they're written that way on purpose, and you can bet any new policies (including your next renewal) written will exclude terrorism as well.

Also, there will be the inevitable wrangling over the final cause of the catastrophe, i.e. was it the plane, or the fire, or the fact that the natural gas pipes couldn't shut off automatically in time (if they can do that--I have no idea) etc. etc. so actually they may be covered.

Please to note that the insurance companies were pretty much first in line whining about how much money this will cost them.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), September 15, 2001.


I'm not sure what the insurance places are complaining about, thats what insurance is for. I'd think they'd have other things to be more concerned with right now.

-- Uriah (Uriahdeath2@netscape.net), September 15, 2001.

I saw a report several days ago in which it was stated that the insurance companies WILL cover the insured. The companies are NOT considering this incident to be an act of war, but rather an accidental cause of death. So far I have not heard of a single insurer who has said they will not pay up.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), September 17, 2001.

I had thought that everyone's insurance didn't kick in for at least one month before buying the policy. That practice prevents people from buying insurance just before disaster looms, such as a hurricane or other massive weather / fire event heading up towards the area.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), September 17, 2001.

Health insurance often has wait periods. Earthquake, you can buy when you have just bought your house, and they also offer it once a year-- but you cannot get it for 30 days after any quake in the state.

Storm season, from what I understand, has a definite beginning and end period, so I can sort of see why they would do that.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), September 17, 2001.



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