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Tuesday, 10 September 2013

Choosing Comprehensive Home Insurance Makes Sense

By Clea Spahn


Today, most homeowners insurance is comprehensive, covering property, belongings, liability and living expenses in one policy. Savvy insurance buyers need to make sure they have the right coverage in each category.

All perils, otherwise known as comprehensive insurance, covers pretty much everything with some notable exceptions like earthquakes, settling, floods, and wear and tear, and deterioration of mechanical or other variety, to name a few examples,

Most comprehensive home insurance policies include contents insurance, which covers the cost of replacing your belongings, up to a set amount. Before you purchase comprehensive insurance, there are exclusions listed in the policy, have a good look at those. There are usually options for riders to be purchased that will protect against loss or damage from items that are excluded.

The comprehensive insurance you choose will likely cover your personal gadgets as part of that policy. There's a few things to check here, though. House fires and theft of property are all that certain policies will cover, so double check the list so you know what is included.

There are guaranteed-replacement policies that can be purchased, and those will pay for the replacement of your entire home, regardless of the maximum amount that the policy sets. In some cases, vintage homes could be excluded because the materials required to restore them are not available. The home insurance option that will cost you the most is a guaranteed-replacement policy.

Comprehensive personal liability insurance protects you from people bringing claims against you as a result of accidents on your property, such as a dog bite, slip and fall accidents, and injuries on tennis courts or in swimming pools. It pays medical bills for the injured person, his lost wages, rehabilitative services and a settlement payment in the event of a lawsuit brought against you by the injured person.

Living expenses for when you and your family must live elsewhere temporarily after a disaster are also included in comprehensive policies. The entire family could have to stay in a suite or live in a hotel temporarily while repairs are completed on your home. There is a limit to what this sort of protection provides.

Keep in mind, the majority of disasters are covered; for example, wind damage from hurricanes and tornadoes come under the windstorm peril listed in the previous question and so are included. Flood and earthquake damage, however, are not covered by a standard policy. If there are more than two or three claims made by a homeowner, the insurance company could cancel the policy or raise their rates later because of it. A higher deductible means lower premiums, so this is a wise way to go, so that you don't bother making smaller insurance claims, and your policy will remain active with the lowest possible premium rates.




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