The Claims Process Demystified: How Home Fire Insurance Works

The Claims Process Demystified: How Home Fire Insurance Works – Building insurance (also known as building insurance) is not a superfluous luxury; it is a necessity. And not just because it protects your home and belongings from damage or theft. Virtually all mortgage companies require borrowers to have insurance for the full or fair value of a home (usually the purchase price) and will not extend a loan or finance a home transaction without proof of it.

You don’t even have to own your home to need insurance; many landlords require their tenants to have insurance for their tenants. But whether it’s mandatory or not, it’s smart to have this kind of protection. We’ll walk you through the basics of homeowners insurance.

The Claims Process Demystified: How Home Fire Insurance Works

While infinitely customizable, a homeowner’s insurance policy has certain default elements that specify what costs the insurer will cover.

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In the event of damage caused by fire, hurricanes, lightning, vandalism or other covered disasters, your insurer will reimburse you so that your home can be repaired or even completely rebuilt. Destruction or mutilation from floods, earthquakes, and poor home maintenance are generally not covered, and you may need separate passengers if you want that kind of protection. Detached garages, sheds or other structures on the property may also need to be covered separately following the same guidelines as for the main house.

Clothing, furniture, appliances and most other contents of your home are covered if they are destroyed in an insured disaster. You can even get “off-premises” coverage, so you can, say, file a claim for lost jewelry no matter where in the world you lost it. However, there may be a limit to the amount your insurer will reimburse you. According to the Insurance Information Institute, most insurance companies provide coverage for 50% to 70% of the amount of insurance you have for your home’s structure. For example, if your home is insured for $200,000, there’s about $140,000 worth of coverage for your belongings.

If you own a lot of expensive possessions (art or antiques, fine jewelry, designer clothes), you may want to pay extra to put them on a specified schedule, buy a rider to cover them, or even buy a separate policy.

Liability coverage protects you from lawsuits brought by others. Your pets are also covered by this clause! So if your dog bites your neighbor, Doris, whether the bite is on you or her, your insurer will pay her medical expenses. Or, if your child breaks her Ming vase, you can file a claim to pay her back. And if Doris slips on the broken pieces of the vase and successfully sues for pain and suffering or lost wages, you’re covered for that too, just as if someone was injured on your property.

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While policies can only provide $100,000 in coverage, experts recommend having at least $300,000 in coverage, according to the Insurance Information Institute. For added protection, a few hundred dollars extra in premium can buy an additional $1 million or more through an umbrella policy.

It’s unlikely, but if you find yourself needing to get out of your house for a while, this is arguably the best coverage you’ve ever bought. Also known as additional living expenses, this part of the insurance coverage would reimburse you for the rent, hotel room, restaurant meals, and other incidentals you incur while you wait for your home to become habitable again. However, before you book a suite at the Ritz-Carlton and order caviar from room service, be aware that the policy imposes strict daily and total limits. Of course, you can extend those daily limits if you’re willing to pay more coverage.

All insurance policies are certainly not created equal. The cheapest homeowners insurance policy will probably give you the least coverage, and vice versa.

In the US, there are several forms of homeowners insurance that are industry standardized; they are designated HO-1 through HO-8 and offer different levels of protection depending on the homeowner’s needs and the type of property being covered.

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Actual cash value includes the cost of the home plus the value of your assets after deductions for depreciation (i.e., how much the items are currently worth, not how much you paid for them).

The deduction for depreciation, so that you can repair or renovate your home to its original value.

The most comprehensive, this inflation buffer policy pays for all the costs to repair or rebuild your home, even if it’s more than your policy limit. Certain insurers offer an extended replacement, which means it offers more coverage than you bought, but there is a cap; usually it is 20% to 25% higher than the limit.

Some advisors believe that all homeowners should buy a guaranteed replacement value policy because you don’t need just enough insurance to cover the value of your home, you need enough insurance to rebuild your home, preferably at current prices (which will probably have increased since you bought or built). ). “Many times, customers make the mistake of insuring [a home just] enough to cover the mortgage, but that usually equates to 90% of your home’s value,” says Adam Johnson, a home insurance product manager for the policy comparison site QuoteWizard. com. Due to a fluctuating market, it’s always a good idea to get coverage for more than your home is worth.

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While homeowner’s insurance covers most scenarios where a loss could occur, some events are typically excluded from policies, such as natural disasters or other “acts of God” and acts of war.

What if you live in a flood or hurricane zone? Or an area with a history of earthquakes? You will want riders or an additional policy for earthquake insurance or flood insurance for this. There’s also sewer and drain backup coverage you can add on, and even identity recovery coverage that reimburses you for costs associated with being a victim of identity theft.

So what’s driving the rates? According to Noah J. Bank, a vice president and insurance consultant at HUB International, the likelihood that a homeowner will file a claim is the insurer’s perceived “risk.” And to determine risk, home insurance companies pay close attention to previous home insurance claims filed by the homeowner, as well as claims related to that property and the homeowner’s credit. “The frequency of claims and the severity of the claim play a big part in determining rates, especially if there is more than one claim related to the same issue, such as water damage, storm, etc,” says Bank.

While insurers are there to pay claims, they are also in it to make money. Insuring a home that has had multiple claims in the last three to seven years, even if a previous owner made the claim, can push your home insurance premium into a higher price point. You may not even qualify for home insurance based on the number of recent past claims filed, Bank notes.

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The neighborhood, crime rate and availability of building material will also all play a role in determining rates. And of course, coverage options such as deductibles or added riders for art, wine, jewelry, etc. — and the amount of coverage you want — also factor into the size of an annual premium.

“Price and eligibility for home insurance may also vary depending on an insurer’s preference for particular building structures, roof type, condition or age of the home, heating type (if an oil tank is on site or underground), proximity to the coast, swimming pool, trampoline, security systems and more,” says Bank.

What else affects your rates? “The condition of your home can also lessen the importance of a home insurance company providing coverage,” says BillVan Jura, an insurance planning consultant in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. “A home that is not properly maintained increases the likelihood that the insurer will pay on a claim for damages.” Even the presence of a puppy living in your home can increase your home insurance.Some dogs can do a lot of damage, depending on the breed.

While it never pays to play it cheap with coverage, there are ways to lower insurance premiums.

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A burglar alarm controlled by a central station or linked directly to a local police station will help lower homeowners’ annual premiums, perhaps by 5% or more. Typically, to get the discount, the homeowner must provide proof of central monitoring in the form of a bill or contract to the insurance company.

Smoke detectors are another big problem. While standard in most modern homes, installing them in older homes can save the homeowner 10% or more on annual premiums. CO detectors, deadbolt locks, sprinkler systems and in some cases even weatherproofing can also help.

Just like with health insurance or auto insurance, the higher the deductible the homeowner chooses, the lower the annual premium. However, the problem with choosing a high deductible is that claims/problems that typically only cost a few hundred dollars to fix, such as broken windows or damaged plates from a leaking pipe, will most likely be covered by the homeowner. And these can add up.

Many insurance companies give a discount of 10% or more to customers who have other insurance under the same roof (such as car insurance)

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