Does Home Insurance Cover Landslides and Mudslides?
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If a landslide or mudslide damages your home, standard homeowners insurance will not cover the cost of repairs. They are considered "movements of the earth," which are explicitly excluded from coverage. To protect your home from landslides and mudslides, you will need difference in conditions (DIC) coverage.
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When does homeowners insurance cover landslides and mudslides?
Unfortunately, homeowners policies will never cover damage caused by landslides, mudslides or mudflows.
Every policy contains strict language stating that any damage caused by a movement of the earth, which includes landslides and mudslides, will not be covered. Mudflows are more liquid in nature than slides but fall under the same provision that excludes floods.
It's difficult for insurance companies to cover landslides due to their infrequency and the extensive damage they usually cause. To insure your home against landslides and mudslides, you will need a DIC policy, often called "gap coverage," which fills in the gaps for perils a standard residential or commercial property insurance policy won't cover. DIC policies can be taken out to cover floods, earthquakes and, of course, landslides and mudslides.
Where do you buy a difference in coverage (DIC) policy?
Not every company offers DIC policies. To better understand who sells them in your state, you should call your insurance agent. They will be able to tell you if your company offers them or suggest others that do. If they're unsure, call your state's department of insurance to find out. For example, the California Department of Insurance lists some of these companies for DIC policies in California:
- Aegis General Insurance Agency
- Farmers
- Mid-Century Insurance Company
- Safeco Insurance
- Unitrin
How do you get insurance for landslides, mudslides and mudflows
These three disasters don't happen as often as floods or earthquakes. But if you live in a high-risk area, you should consider getting extra protection. If a landslide or mudslide were to hit your home, the cost of the damage could be quite high.
Landslides and mudslides
Land- and mudslides, though movements of the earth, are covered by neither flood or earthquake insurance. You would need a DIC policy to protect your home.
Typically, DIC coverage is a separate policy — possibly from a different company — but some companies may offer it as an endorsement. A DIC policy normally costs several hundred to a few thousand dollars per year, depending on what and how much you're insuring.
Since landslides are so infrequent — on average, 20 to 30 happen annually in the US — it's debatable whether getting a DIC is necessary. There are several high-risk areas where it might be worthwhile. The vast majority of landslides take place in California, Colorado, Washington, North Carolina and Oregon.
New York and Pennsylvania are the only northeastern states on the list, but they only accounted for six of the 617 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration–reported landslides between 1993 and 2011. The five states above, on the other hand, accounted for 244 of those 617 (with another 200 in Puerto Rico alone). Recorded mudslides are even less frequent, with only 38 reported between 1993 and 2002. For the most part, the states with landslides also have mudslides: Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho and North Carolina.
Mudflows
Unlike a mudslide, a mudflow resembles a flood, where the dirt or movement is much more liquid and fluid. Mudslides tend to be more solid. To be covered for a mudflow, you would need flood insurance. An area at risk for mudflows is probably a flood risk also, so you should already have flood insurance anyway.
If you live in a flood area but don't have flood insurance, it's wise to add the coverage. Just an inch of floodwater can cause $10,000 of damage to your home, and no standard homeowners policy will cover it. You should contact your insurance agent for a flood insurance quote. If the company has a partnership with the National Flood Insurance Program, then your agent will be able to write you a policy from them.
Typically, flood insurance premiums can cost anywhere from $400 per year in low-risk areas to over $13,000 a year in high-risk areas. To get the best flood insurance for your needs, get quotes from multiple companies in your area.
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