Earthquake is excluded from every standard homeowners policy in the country. Not limited, not sublimited — excluded. If the ground moves and the house cracks, a homeowners policy pays nothing, and the only thing that responds is a separate earthquake policy bought deliberately.
Most California homeowners do not have one. That is a decision, whether or not it was made on purpose.
Earthquake deductibles are expressed as a percentage of the dwelling limit rather than as a dollar figure, and the percentages are nothing like the ones on a homeowners policy. The California Earthquake Authority offers 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 percent.
On a home insured for $600,000, a 15 percent deductible is $90,000 before the policy pays anything. That number is why people conclude earthquake insurance is not worth buying — and it is also why the coverage exists. It is not designed for cracked plaster. It is designed for the loss that would otherwise end you financially.
The CEA is a publicly managed, privately funded entity. You do not buy from it directly; participating residential insurers sell CEA policies alongside their own homeowners policies. The earthquake policy is separate from the homeowners policy even when the same carrier arranges both.
Two eligibility limits are worth knowing before you assume you can pick the lowest deductible. Homes with dwelling coverage above $1,000,000, and pre-1980 homes on a raised foundation without a verified retrofit, are eligible only for the 15, 20 or 25 percent deductibles.
The loss-of-use point is worth dwelling on. After a significant quake, the thing that costs a family most immediately is not the repair bill, it is housing everyone for months while the region rebuilds at once. That coverage starts paying without you clearing a percentage deductible first.
On an older house on a raised foundation, a verified retrofit — bolting the frame to the foundation and bracing the cripple walls — is what moves you out of the restricted deductible band. It is one of the few places in insurance where physical work on the building changes the terms you can buy rather than only the price.
If retrofitting has been done, the documentation matters as much as the work. Undocumented improvements are, to an underwriter, improvements that did not happen.
There is no CEA equivalent north of the state line. Earthquake coverage in Washington and Oregon is written by private carriers, terms vary more widely, and take-up is lower still — despite the Cascadia subduction zone being the more consequential long-term exposure of the two coasts. The same rules apply: separate policy, percentage deductible, read the terms rather than the headline.
Most people find out at claim time. Send us your declarations page and we will tell you before then — what triggers your deductible, what it works out to in dollars, and what is missing.
Send your policyAlmost every expensive surprise on a property policy traces back to one of these. Each guide is written once and kept current, because the mechanics do not change by ZIP code even when the pricing does.
Most people find out at claim time. Send us your declarations page and we will tell you before then — what triggers your deductible, what it would cost, and what is missing.
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