This Quake-Insurance Tale Has a Happy Ending
During years of paying extra premiums for earthquake insurance, my standard bitter joke was this would pay off if the whole house tumbled in a heap at the bottom of our hill. After all, with a house pegged at $416,000 on the policy and a 10% deductible, I would need more than $41,000 worth of damage to collect on penny. Or so I thought.
After our big shake-up on Jan. 17, I didn’t bother to look around much until it occurred to me I could at least claim a deduction on my income tax. So I called my longtime insurance agent about six weeks after the quake to say I was going to file a claim to back up an IRS report. “Sorry to bother you when you’re so busy,” I said, “I know the deductible will eat up any damage claims I make.” “Send it in,” she said. “You never know.”
No chimney guys would come look and give me an estimate. They wouldn’t even answer phone calls. At last the city inspector’s office sent two young guys to see if our house should be red-tagged. They told me the going rate for rebuilding chimneys was about $400 per foot, tops, and I needed at most 10 feet if I needed any. So four grand went into my damage estimate. The guys put a green tag on the house, which was handy because we were living in it.
Through the Yellow Pages I found a kindly gent who came out to look at the big crack in the retaining wall. He said he would fix everything for $24,000. After I threw in the kitchen sink, I was still way below $40,000. That’ll make a splendid deduction on my tax, if nothing else, I thought.
Then came the call from the insurance company. She told me someone would be out to look over the damage. “Why bother,” I asked her. “You won’t be paying anything.” Then came the shocker. She told me my policy covered the house and “appurtenant structures.” Each structure was valued separately. The busted retaining wall was valued at $40,000, so the deductible on that was $4,000. If it cost $24,000 to fix, they’d pick up the tab for $20,000.
That’s not all.
Their claims adjuster didn’t quibble with my hasty damage estimates. He did, however, remove my generous charge of $6,000 for soil-and-structural engineering prior to rebuilding the wall. I’m not allowed to put that in, he said. Talk to the insurance company about it. Even without that charge, his damage estimate was still $24,000. “I put in a few things you overlooked,” was his explanation.
A few weeks later the insurance company called. “Did you see the adjuster’s statement? If the amount’s OK, we’ll send you a check.” By now getting greedy, I had a couple of questions. “The retaining-wall guy said I’d need a soil study. That’s not included.”
“We’re not sure the city will require that,” she said. “But if it is required, we will pay it. Also, if other charges come up concerning the wall, we’ll cover them too.”
After I recovered my breath, I asked: “You seem like really nice people but how do I know you’ll stand by that statement after I cash your check?” Her unfazed reply: “Would you like me to confirm it in writing? I’d be happy to send you a letter to that effect.” The letter arrived the next day. But by now, I’m quite sure I don’t need it.
You haven’t heard the whole story yet. I didn’t have enough damage to get repair money for the house but it was not for want of trying by the claims adjuster. He looked carefully at every room and at all the outside walls. When his damage report came, I saw that he had included repainting the whole outside of the house and nearly every wall and ceiling inside. “Hey,” I said, “the quake didn’t damage the damn paint. How come you think you should repaint?”
This was his explanation. The insurance company feels it cannot accurately match paint, even when the paint’s almost new. So where there is a crack that might have been caused by the quake, the entire surface in that color, not just the repaired section, has to be repainted. Apparently it didn’t matter that my paint was ancient and peeling.
I had never heard of this insurance company before my agent sold me the policy. I have no connection with either the company or the agent except as a client.
And I was just as scornful of insurance companies as anyone else before I had this experience. It just seems to me it’s time that something besides a complaint should be said about insurance companies.
Don McKenzie, a 50-year veteran of the advertising business, has watched Los Angeles shake, rattle and grow for almost three decades.
