My brother informed me today that he was talking with his insurance agent and asked the agent about Y2K risks. The agent told him that all of the new and renewed home owners policies now contain a Y2K clause. It states that any damage caused by any Y2K related event(water,fire,looting) will not be covered. This agent claims that all insurance companies are doing this. My policy is up at the end of the month so I will be checking into this. Does any one else have any knowledge or info on this?

-- Scott (carstens@werewolf.net), March 13, 1999

Answers

Scott; British insurers got these types of notifications underway about mid 98. I am aware of notices in North America since about September 98. It sure is disconcerting and reinforces the fact that OO flaws are real and potentially fatal. Thanks for sharing that your brothers has arrived. Keep well. Best wishes, Watchful

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 13, 1999.

Ed Yourdon said in his book (on page 43) that our insurance will not cover Y2K-related events.

I am thinking that Ed is thinking you are not covered unless you have a policy that actually specifies it.

-- Rick (Hello@hello.com), March 14, 1999.

My Canadian insurance company recently presented me with this document:

This Endorsement Changes the Policy. Please read it Carefully.

Misinterpretation of Date Exclusion Endorsement

This Endorsement is Applicable to all Liability Coverages of this Policy.

This Insurance does not apply to "Bodily Injury," "Property Damage" or "Personal Injury" directly or indirectly caused by, or contributed to, by, or arising from:

1. a. electronic data processing equipment, or other equipment, including micro-chips embedded therein; b. computer program; c. software; d. media; e. data; f. memory storage system; g. memory storage device; h. real time clock; i. date calculator; or j. any other related component, system, process or device,

to correctly read, recognize, interpret or process any encoded, abbreviated or encrypted date, time or combined date/time data or data field; "Such failure shall include any error in original or modified date entry or programming."

2. Any advice, consultation, design, evaluation, inspection, installation, maintenance, repair, replacement or supervision provided or done by you or for you to determine, rectify, or test for any potential or actual problems described in Paragraph (1) of this endorsement.

All other terms and conditions of the policy remain unchanged.

_______________________

My insurance agent assured me that this applied to any and all types of insurance: tenant, home owner, and automobile.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), March 14, 1999.

Rec'd letter from my auto insurance company that states:

"As our insurance customer, it is important to note, that you can not rely on insurance coverage to protect you for failures arising from non-fortuitous activities(i.e.:non-accidental)emanating from things such as system design, computer code or the failure to fix non-compliant systems. In the event of a loss, alleged to be caused by a Year 2000 malfunction, the availability of insurance coverage under any policy will depend on the circumstances of the loss and the coverage and exclusions applicable. Claims will be handled based on the facts presented, but what are foreseen as the most likely types of claims that could occur from a Year 2000 malfunction are not covered under most policies."

I wonder when I'll be getting a letter from my home insurance company?

-- shivermetimbers (zerodegrees@brrrrrr.com), March 14, 1999.

Kentucky Farm Bureau sent out a letter telling us that will not cover Y2k related accidents.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), March 14, 1999.

My insurance company informed me in January that my homeowner's insurance would probably not cover me in the event of a Y2K-related power outage (i.e., if my pipes burst as a result). This is one of the reasons I opted for the expense of a wood stove. I could see the possibility of a double hit - if there were an extended power outage as a result of Y2K, then there might also be problems with local deliveries of the building materials needed to make the repairs.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), March 14, 1999.

All of this points to the need for some legislation in D.C. to protect the "little guy" from bad stuff that can happen to us if the organizations we rely on have BIG problems. I keep thinking someone will start a national movement on this. For various reasons, I can't be the one. Anybody know anybody working on this?

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), March 14, 1999.

Just send us your money and you take care of your own problems! What the hell do you think we are in business for?

-- sure isn't (big@insurance.com), March 14, 1999.