Massive apartment fire in Coquitlam raises questions about home insurance
Posted February 18, 2015 12:41 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – About 100 people are out of their homes for another night after a massive fire destroys a Coquitlam apartment building. The disaster which forced many people to stay with family and friends is raising questions on home insurance.
David Chambers with Chambers Olsen Insurance says home owners with a mortgage are mandated by the bank to get insurance. But he says there’s no rule for condo and renter’s insurance. Chambers says roughly 30 to 40 per cent of people don’t have it, and their decision to opt out is based on many reasons.
“Basically people say ‘I don’t have that much stuff to worry about’, maybe $10,000 or $20,000 [worth of stuff] but polices have replacement costs on them and that’s all for new stuff, rather than going to Value Village to find a couch or a bed that’s slept on by five other people.”
Other excuses are related to believing it’s not worthwhile and affordability. “A lot of people don’t feel it’s necessary, ‘It’s never going to happen to me.’ That’s basically the major reason and some people with costs.”
Depending on the policy, he says the average can cost roughly 30 bucks a month.
For those that have a plan, his advice is to take pictures of all of your belongings and e-mail the files to yourself just in case. “I tell people to take pictures with their iPhone and send it to their Hotmail, mail at work, or a relative so that they’ve got pictures of exactly what they have, because in a fire you’ll never remember everything you had.”
In light of the tragedy in Coquitlam, he strongly suggests renters to get insurance.
“You never know when you’re going to get a fire. It’s insurance against such things as fire. If you don’t have it in place the problem is when you do have a disastrous fire, you’re standing outside for the Good Will people to come by and give you clothes to put on. If you have insurance you have an opportunity (additional living expenses) where you can go to a hotel and they will pay for it.”
