GeoVera earthquake and home insurance review 2024
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“Verified by an expert” means that this article has been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated for accuracy.
BLUEPRINT
Updated 5:43 a.m. UTC March 8, 2024
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Pros
- Offers multiple coverage options for earthquake insurance.
- Maintains “A” rating for earthquake insurance from AM Best.
- Provides homeowners, wind and hail, vacant home and residential landlord coverage in Florida.
- Can get a free quote online.
Cons
- Remains non-admitted for home insurance products, instead using wholesale brokers.
- Limited coverage options.
About GeoVera earthquake insurance
GeoVera Insurance Company started providing insurance in 1997 and quickly became one of California’s largest private residential earthquake insurance companies. GeoVera focuses on providing insurance to customers in areas prone to strong weather patterns, including earthquakes and windstorms.
Today, GeoVera has expanded its insurance products in Florida to include homeowners insurance, wind insurance, flood insurance, residential landlord insurance and vacant home insurance in select areas.
Where can I get GeoVera earthquake insurance?
GeoVera currently provides earthquake insurance to residents of California, Oregon and Washington.
Types of earthquake policies offered
Geovera offers several types of earthquake insurance: Flex Limit, Single Limit and Quake Select.
| FLEX LIMIT | SINGLE LIMIT | QUAKE SELECT CA | QUAKE SELECT OR, WA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Availability
| California
| California, Oregon and Washington
| California
| Oregon and Washington
|
Limits
| Dwelling up to $3.5 million
| Single limit up to $5 million in California and $1.9 million in Oregon and Washington
| Dwelling limit up to $3.5 million
| Dwelling limit up to $3.5 million
|
Limit Options
| Flexible
| Full and limited
| Full and limited
| Flexible
|
Discounts
| Retrofit and auto pay
| Retrofit in California, auto pay
| Retrofit and auto pay
| Auto pay
|
Swimming pool coverage
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| No
|
Building code upgrade
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
|
Personal liability offered
| Yes
| No
| No
| No
|
Content coverage offered
| Yes
| No
| Yes
| Yes
|
GeoVera’s earthquake insurance policies cover six key areas. These include:
- Dwelling: Pays to repair or rebuild the main structure of your house and any attached parts, such as a garage or porch.
- Other structures: Pays to repair or rebuild detached structures on your property, like a shed or gazebo.
- Personal property: Reimburses the cost of repairing or replacing your personal property (including items like clothing, furniture and electronics) minus depreciation.
- Loss of use: Also known as additional living expenses (ALE) coverage, this reimburses the cost of temporary housing, meals, laundry and other required expenses if your house becomes uninhabitable after a quake.
- Loss assessment: If you have a homeowners association, this covers your portion of the expense of repairs if a common area is damaged.
- Building code upgrades: Pays to upgrade your dwelling when rebuilding to meet current building code requirements.
Other types of insurance offered
GeoVera provides other insurance products with limited availability. GeoVera is a non-admitted carrier for insurance products (other than earthquake insurance), which means it doesn’t have to follow state-mandated guidelines when it comes to rates. GeoVera partners with wholesale brokers to sell the below insurance products in Florida.
Homeowners insurance
GeoVera provides home insurance through wholesale partners in Florida.
Standard home insurance includes six types of coverage: dwelling, personal property, loss of use, personal liability and medical payments to others.
Shopping for home insurance? The best home insurance companies.
Wind insurance
In areas with a high risk of windstorms and hurricanes, wind and hail damage can be excluded from home insurance coverage. GeoVera operates as a non-admitted surplus lines carrier for wind-only insurance and sells through partner wholesale brokers.
Wind-only insurance pays to repair or rebuild your house and other structures if they’re damaged by wind or hail. It also includes personal property and loss of use coverage.
Residential landlord insurance
GeoVera sells landlord insurance wholesale brokers in select states.
Landlord insurance can cover you if you rent out your house on a long-term basis. Landlord insurance includes the following coverages:
- Dwelling coverage, to repair or rebuild your house if it’s damaged by a covered problem in your policy, like a fire.
- Contents coverage, to repair or replace some belongings that you leave in your rental house, like furniture.
- Loss of rental income, if your rental house becomes uninhabitable after a covered problem and you lose rental income.
- Premise liability, to cover your legal fees and other people’s medical expenses if they are injured on your rental property.
Vacant home insurance
GeoVera sells vacant home insurance. Most standard home insurance policies won’t pay out for a claim if your house has been vacant for more than 30 days.
Vacant home insurance includes dwelling, other structures, and personal property (or contents) coverage.
GeoVera insurance discounts
Customers who purchase earthquake insurance through GeoVera can take advantage of two discounts:
- Retrofit discounts allow you to pay a lower premium if you add components to your house that enhance its protection against earthquake damage.
- Autopay discounts lower your premium if you set up your payments to automatically withdraw from your account.
GeoVera earthquake insurance FAQs
No, GeoVera does not sell earthquake insurance in Louisiana and does not directly sell any property insurance in Louisiana either.
GeoVera Specialty Insurance Company operates as a non-admitted surplus lines carrier. This means it does not have to meet requirements set forth by state departments of insurance for admittance — or licensure. Instead, the company works with wholesale brokers to sell its insurance products (except for earthquake insurance).
GeoVera’s flex limit, single limit and split limit earthquake insurance options maintain “A” ratings from AM Best Company, which is considered excellent. That said, the company only offers these policies in three states, making it a limited option.
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