Originally Posted by Skyline

Sorry you lost a nice car, but I still don't understand why you think comprehensive coverage is a waste of money. You live in one of the HIGHEST auto theft areas in the country. I lived in Brooklyn for ten years; I had one BMW keyed, one attempted theft, and another stolen from the sidewalk in front of my house while I slept without a trace. Avoiding comprehsive coverage is not a great idea, especially in Brooklyn.

His car is parked in a garage almost all of the time

And you can say no one expected the degree of storm surge, but I do remember warnings two days before the eye hit land to expect twelve foot surge above normal full moon high tide. I remember seeing maps on the Weather Channel prior to the storm, showing showing big parts of the city, including areas of Brooklyn, expecting flooding. Brooklyn is, after all, almost surrounded by water.

He is not in the flood zone, and it is a 100 year storm. My neighborhood is also not in the flood zone, and all the people from the flood zone moved to our hood. Water stopped half a block from my house. Where exactly do you expect 3 million people to go?

Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but these were not the best choices you made, and others here should take a lesson from that. It's better safe than sorry when it comes to major storms. I am sympathetic to your loss; I lost a couple of BMWs myself where I was not fully insured, so I know your pain. One was rolled on a racetrack, and I'm not sure you can get insurance to pay for that without fraud. The other was a restored classic BMW that was stolen, (from Brooklyn,) that turned out to only have actual cash value coverage, when I had requested what I now know to be stated value coverage. The race car was a risk I always knew was there that I really could not insure, the other was a learning experience in terms of insurance for me. Each one was a loss similar to the value of your X.

Flood insurance is quite inexpensive for those not in flood zones, and many more homeowners should have this coverage than do today. Unless you live on top of a big hill, it's not a bad thing to have. (BTW, no homeowner's insurance will cover a car in a home garage if the garage is destroyed, and neither will flood insurance; that's where your auto insurance comprehensive comes in). And if you're in a flood zone, there's simply no excuse for not having flood insurance, unless you are so rich you can afford the loss. The whole idea of any insurance is to avoid losses that you can not afford. Self insure what you can afford; ie take hefty deductibles to keep coverage in place.