Policy Management FAQs
A. CEA participating residential insurance companies process all claims on our behalf. Please contact them directly if you have an earthquake damage claim.
A. Make your CEA policy payment to the residential insurance company that sold you your CEA policy—not CEA. They handle all billing for your CEA policy on our behalf.
A. There are several ways to lower what you pay for earthquake insurance.
- Choose a higher deductible to lower your premium—CEA deductibles range from 5% to 25%, in 5% increments. 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.
- If your home is insured under a CEA Homeowners Choice policy, you can reduce your costs by declining personal property and loss of use coverages and only insuring the dwelling.
- Make sure your coverage limits make sense for your needs. Do you rent a 1-bedroom, but have the highest possible personal property limit of $25,000? Make sure your coverage limits accurately reflect what you own.
- If you have an older retrofitted house, you may qualify for a Hazard Reduction Discount of up to 25%, with proper verification. Call your agent or CEA participating residential insurer for details.
A. The residential insurance company that sold you your CEA policy decides what payment methods and schedules (including pay by credit card or monthly installments) are available to pay CEA policy premiums. Please contact them to see what options they offer.
A. Contact the residential insurance companies you are considering, and find out what options they offer CEA policyholders. Because CEA does not offer stand-alone earthquake policies, your CEA policy has to be with the same insurance company as your residential insurance policy. Those companies sell and service CEA policies on our behalf, and they determine what billing and payment options to make available to you.
A. CEA policy billing, payments, changes and renewals are not handled by CEA. The servicing of your policy—including any accommodations due to the COVID pandemic—is handled by the residential property insurance company that issued your CEA policy. You will need to contact that insurance company for details on how they are managing grace periods, late payments, or other policy issues that may arise related to COVID-19.
Read the California Insurance Commissioner's latest bulletin on grace periods, and contact your insurance company directly for more information.