Originally Posted by
Dave Hanson
I can't understand why his instruments , house etc. are not insured. My humble abode and everything in it is.
Not sure and I'm no insurance expert, but it's not unheard of for U.S. insurance companies to simply drop (cancel) insurance policies at their whim, including for geographic areas that are now considered "high risk". Also, "collectibles" such as musical instruments might not be fully covered anyway. Don't know how much of this applies in this particular instance, but anyway here are some possibly-relevant articles:
1. How the California Wildfires Are Reshaping Fire Insurance for Homeowners. Snippet:
"California homeowner complaints about being dropped from their plans increased threefold from 2010 to 2016, and complaints about premium hikes increased by 217%, reported Newberry, citing a California Department of Insurance report.
"California Insurance Commissioner David Jones told the AP he expects more rate increases and more policies to not be renewed, particularly in high-risk fire areas."
2. Fires May Make It Harder for Homeowners to Get Insurance in California. Quick quote:
"State officials don’t track exactly how many people are dropped by their insurance companies, but the number of homeowners complaining about it happening more than tripled from 2010 to 2016.
"The problem is most pronounced in high-risk fire areas. In the 24 California counties with the highest fire risk, the number of non-renewals increased 15 percent from 2015 to 2016, according to a Department of Insurance report. Insurers dropped more than 10,000 policies in those counties in 2016.
"Homeowners who need new or replacement policies may have to look harder or pay more."
3. Colorado and elsewhere too, apparently: Up In Smoke - Home Insurance Is Getting Too Hard To Find In Wildfire Country
"... home insurance policy had been canceled. ... house was too likely to be destroyed by a wildfire... Scientists expect wildfire danger to increase.... Meanwhile, more people than ever live in forested areas, with millions of homes threatened in California, Colorado and Texas..."
etc.
I would also speculate that even if everything is covered in a particular instance, there might (or might not) be a significant time gap before receiving any sort of payout. I've seen that happen in one particular instance years ago with a different type of insurance - life insurance - where an elderly dependent widow had to get by with no income for months until the nearly-useless insurance company got around to paying up, they took their time processing the paperwork, and various additional documents had to be submitted in order for the claim to proceed. Meanwhile, the person still had to figure out how to live, somehow. I don't know how much of that sort of thing goes on with homeowners' insurance, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's not an instant cure-all in case of complete annihilation of the covered property.
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