I’ve looked into moving somewhere affordable, but it seems to be an area prone to wildfires and was evacuated for such recently.
What happens during an evacuation? Where do you go? Who covers the cost it’s a hotel or something, or do people find their own accommodations? What kind of damage can you expect from smoke when you return home if it is still standing? Anything else unexpected that comes from this?
Thanks
Usually for cases where insurance is not feasible because of increased risk of for example wild fires, the government steps in and an insurance pool is created to cover the costs of rebuilding and temporary relocation. But it happens only after insurance companies start to retreat more broadly. I assume they cannot stop paying out especially fire claims because the costs that need to be reimbursed are immediate and will be agreed to when the fire is being reported - which usually happens within hours. All in all it would be kind of dump of an insurer to refuse payout in a case like a fire. There either was a fire or there wasn’t. So not much room for push-back I would assume. But not a lawyer so I am just being hopeful here haha.
I think the most likely outcome is that they will remove coverage for wildfires, which would likely have to be purchased separately like flood insurance works today. You are correct that if it is covered by the terms of the insurance they pretty much have to pay out at that point, as it is a contractual obligation.
I wonder how much money it would cost them to fight the subset of customers who took them to court over refused payouts?
Like if they refuse to pay out 10 x $500,000 payouts, as long as the legal fees and fines they’d pay to avoid prison costs then less than $5m, they’re making profit on a policy of “deny every claim”.