CEA Homeowners Earthquake Insurance Policies

A. If the insured's qualifying home was built before 1980 and has been seismically retrofitted, they may qualify for up to a 25% premium discount with a retrofit verification.

Learn more about Earthquake Brace + Bolt (EBB) from the California Residential Mitigation Program offering grants of up to $3,000 to help pay for a seismic retrofit. With a verified retrofit, homeowners may be eligible for a premium discount.

A. The insured does not have to pay their deductible out of pocket to receive payment on a claim. The deductible is subtracted from their covered damage, so they don’t have to pay any of the deductible up front before receiving their claim payment. 

Both standard Homeowners and Homeowners Choice offer deductibles ranging from 5-25%. Upcoming policy options changes will affect deductible options. Deductibles available are 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, or 25%. For new policies written on or after August 1, 2023 and renewals on or after November 1, 2023, homes with a Coverage A dwelling limit greater than $1,000,000, or dwellings built before 1980 on a raised or other type foundation that do not have a verified retrofit, are only eligible for a 15%, 20% or 25% deductible. Learn more about our 2023 Policy Option Changes.

With the standard policy, all of the insured coverages are together under one deductible. With Homeowners Choice, they can choose to have separate deductibles for their dwelling and personal property. And if earthquake damage meets the dwelling deductible, the personal property deductible is waived.

A. California has two-thirds of our nation's earthquake risk. Structures that lack adequate sill plate bolting and cripple-wall bracing are more susceptible to earthquake damage.

The frames of older houses are often not bolted to their foundations, and their cripple walls may lack bracing. Houses without adequate bolting and bracing can slide or topple off their foundation during an earthquake, requiring potentially very expensive repairs. But this serious damage can be prevented with a proper seismic retrofit.

Your client may be eligible for financial help to pay for their house's retrofit. Learn more about our program—Earthquake Brace + Bolt—that offer grants of up to $3,000 to help pay for a seismic retrofit.

CEA policyholders with properly retrofitted houses are eligible for a discount of up to 25% off their CEA policy premium.

A. Yes. CEA has never imposed a moratorium on selling new earthquake insurance policies following any earthquake, even in the areas directly affected by the earthquake.*

If your customers choose to purchase a new CEA earthquake insurance policy shortly after the occurrence of an earthquake in their area, and if there are aftershocks or other quakes that are related to that same earthquake, then you should help make them aware that their new CEA policy will not cover losses from these aftershocks or other related ground-shaking that occurs within 15 days (360 hours) after that earthquake, though would cover damage from completely unrelated earthquakes that may occur immediately after they purchase their policy. That original earthquake, together with all related shaking that occurs within 15 days, are collectively referred to as the "seismic event" in the CEA policy. In other words, the "seismic event" commences upon the initial earthquake, and all earthquakes or aftershocks that occur within the 360 hours (15 days) immediately following the initial earthquake are considered for purposes of this policy to be part of the same "seismic event."

For a loss to be covered under a CEA policy, both the original earthquake that caused the loss (to your customer’s property or belongings) and the 15-day "seismic event" that the earthquake is part of must commence during the policy period.

If, however, another earthquake occurs after the new policy goes into effect, and that earthquake is not seismically related to the earlier earthquake (not part of the earlier “seismic event”), then your customer’s losses from this new earthquake would be covered, even if they occurred immediately after the effective date of the policy, because those losses would arise from a different seismic event.

If you have customers who are current policyholders and they have experienced damage from a covered seismic event, and another quake occurs as part of the same event (for example, with the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake, when a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck and the next day a 7.1 magnitude struck, as part of the same seismic event), our 360-hour definition allows current policyholders to combine all the damage to meet their deductible. In other words, they do not need to meet their deductible each time; they only need to meet it once.

*It is possible, however, that one or more CEA participating insurers, as well as other insurance companies, may declare a moratorium on new sales of their own insurance policies (e.g., homeowners, condominium owners, or renters insurance that covers the risk of fire) in the affected area after an earthquake or other disaster. We recommend you be aware if your company has issued a moratorium on the policy types they offer following recent earthquakes or other disasters.

A. Remind your client that they do not have to pay their deductible out of pocket to receive payment on a claim. The deductible is simply subtracted from their total covered damage amount, and then CEA pays the full amount of their covered loss up to the applicable coverage limit. The policyholder doesn’t have to pay any of the deductible up front before receiving their claim payment. And, of course, it’s worth noting that while the CEA has a policy deductible ranging from 5% to 25%, for those who don’t purchase earthquake insurance, they essentially have a deductible of 100%!

Both standard Homeowners and Homeowners Choice offer the same range of deductibles (5% to 25%). Upcoming policy options changes will affect deductible options. Deductibles available are 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, or 25%. For new policies written on or after August 1, 2023 and renewals on or after November 1, 2023, homes with a Coverage A dwelling limit greater than $1,000,000, or dwellings built before 1980 on a raised or other type foundation that do not have a verified retrofit, are only eligible for a 15%, 20% or 25% deductible. Learn more about our 2023 Policy Option Changes.

With the standard policy, all of your insured’s coverages are together under one deductible. With Choice, they can choose to have separate deductibles for their dwelling and personal property. And if earthquake damage meets the dwelling deductible under Choice, the personal property deductible is waived.