Intact Insurance will not pay for covered sewage backup

[thetransporter]

Intact Insurance will not pay for covered sewage backup

A Calgary man says a couple of months after the flood he is still fighting with his insurance company about compensation even though his neighbours on each side were covered for similar damage.

Alberta flood victims mostly out of luck with insurance
TD Insurance to cover sewer backup after flood victim anger
Repairs of flooded homes are still ongoing around Hugh McMillan's house in Roxboro, a community hard-hit by floodwaters in June.

He says water came in from sewer backups, which is typically covered by insurance.

"The basement was totally full up to the joists and just a little bit on the main floor," said McMillan.

McMillan says Intact Insurance inspected his home and said because the water got to the main floor it was overland flooding and wouldn't be covered. Insurance companies in Canada do not offer coverage for overland flooding.

Flood victims can appeal
In an email, Intact says reviewing the case file clearly shows it was overland flooding so there's no coverage.

Chris Bourdeau, a spokesman for Alberta's Treasury Board and Finance, says the province is still getting calls from people unsatisfied with their insurance providers.

He says they should appeal again to the company but can call the government if they feel rules have been broken.

"We have a superintendent of insurance that members of the public can call and we can certainly advise them and if someone has a complaint they would like to make against a company they can certainly call," said Bourdeau.

McMillan said he has contacted a lawyer to explore his options.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...lawsuit-w.html

[Feruk]

This isn't sewer back up from the sound of it... If he wanted to be covered for floods, he should've bought the coverage! If it wasn't offered, then he should've taken the risk of flooding into account when he bought the place. Want to live in a flood plain? Don't be surprised if it floods!

[ZenOps]

Insurance should always be considered a risk in itself. They can deny a claim on any issue, they themselves can hit force majeure and claim bankruptcy (I'm actually surprised that more insurance companies in North America haven't declared bankruptcy, yet.)

The contract you sign with an insurance company is always subject to their judgement, just like leaving a deposit at the bank is subject to them as a liability. Paying out insurance is a financial liability to them, so yes - of course they are going to do everything in their power to make sure the claim is 100% under their rules.

A lot of Calgary was in 100-year floodzone. Many owners and purchasers were fully aware of this fact. Flood is almost never covered in insurance. If you can't completely 100% prove that there was no overland water seepage, then the insurance company has the upper hand.

On a side note: Much of BC's population is in an earthquake/tsunami zone. There is really no such thing as 80-foot wave tsunami insurance. Potential insurance nightmare scenario there too.

Why do people insist on building in these areas? I'm beginning to think its some sort of alien brain abduction, or global insurance scam of some sort.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Feruk
This isn't sewer back up from the sound of it... If he wanted to be covered for floods, he should've bought the coverage!

There's no such thing as overland flood insurance in Canada.

I feel really bad for the insurance companies though. How on earth are they going to post record breaking profits for a 15th year in a row with all this flood payout

[cam_wmh]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


There's no such thing as overland flood insurance in Canada.

I feel really bad for the insurance companies though. How on earth are they going to post record breaking profits for a 15th year in a row with all this flood payout

Actually, I'm pretty certain there is commercial overland flood insurance.

[thetransporter]

Originally posted by cam_wmh


Actually, I'm pretty certain there is commercial overland flood insurance.

my work flooded - even though we have ground level flood insurance in addition to backup - they keep denying/delaying claim just as they are doing with most people......

[Masked Bandit]

Originally posted by cam_wmh


Actually, I'm pretty certain there is commercial overland flood insurance.

Correct, overland flood is available on commercial policies but most businesses don't have it. It's like earthquake insurance on your house, it's available but almost nobody has it.

[ZenOps]

"Insurance works all good and fine until they hit their Lehman moment."

Admittedly Lehman insured much more financial institutions (banks) but going to zero still has to hurt. If the banks went to zero the houses valuations that they owned would have gone to zero, and then arguably - noone would *want* to repair their now $1 homes. IE: More to repair than it was worth resold.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by cam_wmh


Actually, I'm pretty certain there is commercial overland flood insurance.

Pretty sure he meant there's no "residential" overland flood insurance in Canada.

[roopi]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


There's no such thing as overland flood insurance in Canada.

I feel really bad for the insurance companies though. How on earth are they going to post record breaking profits for a 15th year in a row with all this flood payout

Rates will increase and after a year or two of losses the profits will be better than ever. Time to by shares when they start to release earnings if they show major losses.

[DEATH2000]

Originally posted by ZenOps

A lot of Calgary was in 100-year floodzone. Many owners and purchasers were fully aware of this fact.

Actually, no. Very few people in Sunnyside/Bowness or Roxboro/Mission actually knew they were in the flood plane. A friend of mine lived in Sunnyside and she did not know at all. Of the residents I talked to in Roxboro they did know either.

The floodplane was never disclosed to people prior to purchasing their homes their. Including one person in Elbow Park who purchased a home their in May only to have it get flooded.

[NuclearPizzaMan]

Originally posted by DEATH2000

Actually, no. Very few people in Sunnyside/Bowness or Roxboro/Mission actually knew they were in the flood plane. A friend of mine lived in Sunnyside and she did not know at all. Of the residents I talked to in Roxboro they did know either.

The floodplane was never disclosed to people prior to purchasing their homes their. Including one person in Elbow Park who purchased a home their in May only to have it get flooded.

Is it that they were outside older boundaries of the floodplain, or were they just ignorant?

[ercchry]

thats funny, before i bought my innercity home i looked up the floodplain for my neighborhood... i was out side of it by a few blocks. i knew this would be a plus for insurance, plus you know... floods.

guess what? not a drop in my basement

[M.alex]

Originally posted by DEATH2000

Actually, no. Very few people in Sunnyside/Bowness or Roxboro/Mission actually knew they were in the flood plane. A friend of mine lived in Sunnyside and she did not know at all. Of the residents I talked to in Roxboro they did know either.

The floodplane was never disclosed to people prior to purchasing their homes their. Including one person in Elbow Park who purchased a home their in May only to have it get flooded.

There's no excuse for stupidity/lack of research when purchasing a property. That's like buying an acreage w/o testing the septic and water and finding out your tank is shot and you've got e-coli in your water table and then being all surprised those are issues you should have researched prior to purchase.

[got_mike33]

Originally posted by M.alex


There's no excuse for stupidity/lack of research when purchasing a property. That's like buying an acreage w/o testing the septic and water and finding out your tank is shot and you've got e-coli in your water table and then being all surprised those are issues you should have researched prior to purchase.

This, 100%

[Super_Geo]

Insurance companies sure are evil for not paying out on a type of insurance that they don't provide...

[bspot]

A good chunk of the houses that flooded are 80-110 year old houses. When you get them inspected any worthwhile inspector can look at the timbers in the basement and tell you if it's ever flooded.

Shocking... but most home inspectors are useless and don't look. I had environmental inspectors look at mine (can advise on mold etc) and they pointed out the basement in my house had never seen a flood (near the river, but up a hill) and they also found out the roof was leaking, when the inspector said it had 5 years left in it