Whether you purchase your home insurance from your long-time insurance agent or you want to look for more attractively-priced insurance products online from other insurance companies, it is essential that you know what a home insurance policy really is and what things are covered.
Basically, a home insurance policy is a tool you use to manage risks or perils in life, specifically perils that damage parts of your house or completely destroy your house, such as fire, water or storms. When you receive your homeowners insurance policy documents, you will see the amount of coverage, the deductible amount, the perils that are covered and the exclusions from coverage.
It is always a good practice to go over your homeowner’s insurance policy documents and read all the pages. You might discover something that contradicts what you have been assuming. Examining your policy and seeing all the coverages that you required and expected will give you peace of mind.
A typical home insurance policy includes two parts: the property coverage and the liability coverage. Property refers to your house and its contents while liability refers to your liability for accidents that could occur within your property. The property coverage is further divided into sections namely, main dwelling, other structures, personal property and loss of use.
Dwelling refers to your main house, extensions, built-in appliances and all your utility systems. Other structures refer to structures within your land property but detached from your main house such as storage facilities, garages, fences, driveways and retaining walls.
Personal property refers to personal things owned by you and your family members, such as jewelry, art objects and furniture. Remember however that these items have limited coverages, so you need to obtain additional coverages if you are not satisfied with the amounts assigned to certain personal belongings.
The loss of use provision will pay for part of your living expenses when you stay in a hotel or another accommodation while home repairs are being undertaken.
The deductible is the amount you bear or the amount deducted from the home insurance proceeds when you make a claim.
Another part of your house insurance policy that you need to check is the exclusions portion. This is where your homeowners insurance company lists the things it does not cover, the limitations of coverage amounts and the conditions when your insurance company is not legally liable to pay your insurance claims.
If you have other precious belongings that you need to cover or if you feel you need to cover against inflation, you can always contact your insurance firm for additional endorsements to your home insurance policy.
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