BajaNomad

Home owners insurance and Hurricane Odile

Dusty - 10-5-2014 at 10:38 AM

Just curious, which insurance companies are paying out hurricane damage claims and which ones are not, in the Cabo San Lucas area?

shari - 10-5-2014 at 03:43 PM

Someone asked me that the other day if people had insurance on some of the damages...good question.

vandenberg - 10-5-2014 at 03:46 PM

Why do you want to know ??

Udo - 10-5-2014 at 04:54 PM

The cost of insurance in Baja Sur, is fairly prohibitive, and has a high deductible.

vandenberg - 10-5-2014 at 06:33 PM

We're with AIG, one of the larger insurance companies in the world.
The adjuster was here yesterday to assess the damage on our place and when I get the result, I will post it here.




[Edited on 10-6-2014 by vandenberg]

dtbushpilot - 10-5-2014 at 06:42 PM

The company that insures my boat contacted me 2 days after the hurricane to see if my boat suffered any damage. It was in the garage so no problems.

Alm - 10-5-2014 at 06:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Dusty
Just curious, which insurance companies are paying out hurricane damage claims and which ones are not, in the Cabo San Lucas area?

Many Nomads live on a leased land. They built something and sometimes have some receipts on some materials and appliances, as a proof. Landlord owns the land. Insurance then becomes "complicated".

ElCap - 10-5-2014 at 07:37 PM

We lost a bunch or personal belongings in a palm fire on our property in San Ignacio a few years back. I contacted my insurance agent here in California (State Farm) and was pleasantly surprised to discover that these were covered under our policy (albeit with a large deductible) under our home policy. Never hurts to ask. Luckily I had just taken a video inventory of our belongings the week before the loss, and that sufficed as evidence for the claim.

Whale-ista - 10-5-2014 at 09:03 PM

If you are looking for insurance: veterans/military families may want to check with USAA for their services for coverage out of the US.

I've used USAA insurance in Baja for years, tho never made a claim for a hurricane. (They did help replace stolen items after home robbery- getting police reports was the biggest challenge.)

Alan - 10-6-2014 at 06:34 AM

I would be surprised if any homeowner policy covers hurricane damage. It has been my experience that most policies don't cover "Acts of God". Hopefully many of the people had actual hurricane policies.

dtbushpilot - 10-6-2014 at 08:32 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Alan
I would be surprised if any homeowner policy covers hurricane damage. It has been my experience that most policies don't cover "Acts of God". Hopefully many of the people had actual hurricane policies.


My homeowners policy in MX covers hurricane damage and clean up. The deductible is high but if the damage is bad it's worth having.

Gulliver - 10-6-2014 at 08:48 AM

We have flood insurance on our place in Mulege. It would be madness not to. Yes, the deductible and copays are significant so we will be working hard ourselves but the premiums are reasonable.

mtnpop - 10-6-2014 at 08:54 AM

Our insurance has always covered hurricane-hydrological (flood)-earthquake among other things... All our friends in Mulege that have insurance have the same coverages to this point...
Remains to be seen if renewal will happen after the first of the year...
Mex. homeowners insurance usually have a co-insurance amount (who knows what this is) a deductible around 10% and they also depreciate your appliances etc.... They will pay inside cleanup but not outside... Lots of paperwork and documentation involved ( this has been the case in the past)
This will be our 3rd one so anything could happen....
Cost has so far been less than our colorado mtn house... Of course we are living in a concrete block box....with a nice tile roof..
Adjusters are there now so we wait to hear the news...

not an issue

mtnpop - 10-6-2014 at 09:13 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Alm
Quote:
Originally posted by Dusty
Just curious, which insurance companies are paying out hurricane damage claims and which ones are not, in the Cabo San Lucas area?

Many Nomads live on a leased land. They built something and sometimes have some receipts on some materials and appliances, as a proof. Landlord owns the land. Insurance then becomes "complicated".


Leased land makes no difference, the land is not insured. When you buy insurance you have a contract with the provider on the house. The landlord has no claim to the damage on the house.. Of course some might try...

capitolkat - 10-6-2014 at 09:35 AM

WE do have insurance. The adjustor was here last week and the good and bad, we had minor damage, mostly outdoors to car gates, satellite dishes, debris removal,etc. Our policy does cover hurricane damage, but because the damage was outside and was minimal we don't reach the deductible, as we had no glass damage to windows or doors which is separately covered at 97%, but they will pay for all debris removal costs and for water damage to our DVR, as electronics is separate deductible, and they also pay for loss of contents to our freezers and refrigerators at a stated limit of $400.

WE were very fortunate as many neighbors lost windows , doors, pillars blown over, significant water damage to interior, loss of all electronics etc. We'll keep the coverage as next time it might be our turn to get hit harder , like our neighbors.

vandenberg - 10-7-2014 at 07:41 AM

For us,with AIG, the damage amount has to be 1% of the insured amount, which we didn't reach.
However, if we had, the deductible was ,at 10%, so high, that even a 1% damage would be cancelled out.
In reality, this insurance only for catastrophic events, like a point 9 quake.

:no::biggrin::biggrin:

weebray - 10-7-2014 at 10:06 AM

If you do have insurance in Mexico (auto or home) do not expect any damages to be restored to original condition. By way of example, our neighbor had an intense magnesium fueled fire in their bodega that burned for hours. One accordion metal/glass door was severely warped. The concrete was badly spalled and the veracity of the rebar in the walls is questionable. The insurance company plastered the concrete, banged the metal relatively straight and painted the results. We also were t-boned by a drunk that fortunately had insurance. The insurance company patched the damage with paper mache (maybe a slight exaggeration) painted it and called it a day. We were not allowed to recommend or insist on a quality repair shop. You take what they will give you, nada mas.