Insurance shock

[Obie]

"my brother installed a fire hydrant in front of his house, connected directly to the pool. "

I would sure like to see a link to a company that would do this. My research has come up with nothing.
I did come up with a company that could provide a large gasoline powered water pump that had hoses and fittings that could connect to a fire truck or your own water cannons that would spray your house.

I have a well in HPP but it will barely provide water pressure to a hose. I couldn't imagine trying to fight a forest fire though.

[MediaBaron]

IMPORTANT NOTICE OF HEARING HB2686 - RELATING TO PROPERTY INSURANCE

One of the suggestions at Senator Joy San Buenaventura's Puna townhall to decrease premiums for HPIA is to increase coverage to include other property.  Please testify in favor of HB2686 & ensure coverage for all properties in Lava Zones 1 & 2, including commercial and industrial.

Status page where you can Submit Testimony: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=2686&year=2024

[terracore]

Well we heard from our agent that they need to shop for a new carrier for us because DB (formerly Dongbu) is not renewing our policy.

So my question for everybody who got dumped by DB, who is your new provider?

[ChunksterK]

We looked for a new carrier both online on our own and through the independent agent who sold us our DB policy. The agent only gave us one choice, Zephryr for general homeowners with hurricane by HHG, a subsidiary of Hyundai. And no, I didn't get those backwards. Zephyr now offers general homeowners. When I saw that Hyundai was the holding company for HHG, I thought, "God forgive me for my prejudice, but no more Korean insurance companies, thank you." This combination was a little more than double what we had been paying DB, btw.

Looking on our own was quite an adventure. First we tried online, and there are all these websites that promise you multiple quotes from reputable companies. Many of those don't do Hawaii, and some of them make you talk to salesmen to get a quote after telling you it can be done online. We're pretty sure one of them turned our email address over to spammers when we told them to stop contacting us. I don't recommend wasting your time on this option.

Next we just started calling insurance companies. Many of them (as well as the combo the agent quoted) wanted to know if the following had been replaced or upgraded in the past 15 years:

Roof
Wiring
Plumbing
Exterior paint

Liberty Mutual and GEICO will not cover houses with roofs older than 15 years. GEICO and Farmers also have restrictions on dog breeds. I could go on, but you get the picture. Speaking of pictures, some of them want photos of the home before giving a quote, some ask for it after, and some say they send someone to look around.

We ended up going with Allstate, not because they had the best customer reviews (they did NOT), not because they were the least expensive (which they actually were among those offering policies), and not because they had the least difficult application process with friendly agents (which they had). We chose them because they have a history of grandfathering in existing customers when they choose to pull back in a given area. This has already happened in parts of California and probably elsewhere. They cost about 50% more than DB and use Laulima for hurricane. Our home is mortgage free, but we chose to get hurricane coverage based on recent history and current trends.

Our home is not a pristine showplace, but we passed Allstate's easy to use photo inspection process. They issued the policy and then sent an email with a link that temporarily opens an app on your phone that you use to take the pictures. It is self guided and very easy to follow. You can review the pictures before you submit them, and retakes are allowed. FWIW, the independent agent's quote that we chose not to buy asked us to simply take pictures of all four sides and the roof (if safely possible) before they would offer cover.

I hope this helps.

[HiloJulie]

For what it's worth - been with Allstate for going on 32 years now.

Had one claim - tool shed broken into took all lawn cutting/yard equipment several years back.

The agent emailed me a Microsoft Excell Spreadsheet to list each item taken. Filled it out and emailed it back and 3 days later had a check based upon their (Allstates) estimated replacement value.

Upon final replacement of everything - difference was another 45 bucks - and had a check 2 days later.

One point to note - about every 5 or so years there has been an "inspector" who only comes and checks the level of the catchment tank.

[Obie]

Same here, Allstate for 40 years.

After the 2018 eruption I had a check for 3 vehicles within 1 week.
Full amount of the house within a month. Content's took about 6 months because I had so much crap. The valued my crap as being golden.

I believe being a long time customer with few claims is rewarded !

[terracore]

Our agent said they were requesting a quote through first insurance company of Hawaii (A subsidiary of Tokio Marine (a Japanese conglomerate)).

I've never heard of them. I figure the Japanese must have the best insurance companies on the planet considering they have some of the worst natural disasters.

Our house and roof are 15 years old. So does that mean it's older than or less older than 15 years? I guess I'll find out.



I'll contact USAA on my own. We have our auto insurance through them and got a homeowners quote from them 12 years ago. I got suckered by their web page (Free quote in 5-10 minutes!) only to hit the "Please call one our agents" when I actually tried to use it.

[terracore]

Quotes I got (12 month):

Allstate $742 (standard policy)
Laulima $365 (hurricane for the above)

USAA: $580.48 (standard policy, or add over $1800 more! for hurricane)

I will probably go with USAA/Laulima. I'm still waiting for more quotes, plus I need to contact the mortgage company to see if they require hurricane insurance. The original one did, but my account got sold to Hells Cargo. I will probably still get it, but would rather it be my own decision rather than one dictated by a bank.

The USAA+Laulima rate is about 50% more than what I was paying for Dungbu, though I don't know what my rate would have been if they hadn't dumped me and increased the premium instead. The rate went up quite a bit last year. Also my Dungboo policy had dated values in it and possibly wouldn't have paid out as much if it was needed. Potentially, while I'm not happy about my rates going up, at the end of all this it could be a wash, and I'm upgrading to a well known USA based company and Laulima, if my research is correct is issued by Palomar, a company based out of CA.

Anybody get hurricane quotes they are willing to share for other than Laulima?

Also my old agent clarified that the DB solution to dump the sub $400k policies in Hawaii was "Lahaina fires".

[terracore]

I've uncovered more information in case it helps others. Hells Cargo as the lender does NOT require "hurricane" coverage at least for my property, it will accept standard wind coverage.

While the USAA with hurricane insurance is much more expensive than standard USAA, coverage is unchanged during a storm (though the deducible for hurricane damage is higher). The Laulima insurance quoted rate covers the structure only. So USAA with hurricane, if the roof is ripped off, they will fix the structure, replace belongings, house us during the interim, etc. Laulima will fix the structure only and nobody covers things like belongings, hotel rooms, etc. At least at the quoted price.

So its all about finding what level of risk one is willing to accept and balancing that against what they can afford each month.

USAA covers wind damage without hurricane coverage, so how does that work? If the NWS or the NHC issues a warning/watch/etc for a named storm, the property is not covered by standard wind damage. This coverage blackout period extends for 72 hours after the warning/watch/whatever is canceled.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

so how does that work? If the NWS or the NHC issues a warning/watch/etc for a named storm, the property is not covered by standard wind damage.

Wait.  What? So HOW does that work?
If there is a hurricane watch, which is not a hurricane, and the insured is in:
* the path?
* the cone?
But you have wind damage, even well below 75 mph, you’re not covered?