Have Adequate Insurance

By Carmen Sanmerino


The largest purchase in your life will probably be your home. Homeowners insurance protects you in a number of ways, from protection for your home and personal belongings to coverage against liability claims. Make sure that your insurance is sufficient to rebuild or repair your home after a disaster by being proactive and reviewing your current homeowner's coverage at least annually.

The Costs to Replace your Home

Most people have an idea what their home is worth on the real estate market. However, when it comes to construction costs, building costs, contractor costs, the current market and availability of contractors, well, most homeowners have little understanding. The 'reinstatement value' is the amount it would cost to rebuild your home, and this is how much your home should be insured for. This differs from your home's market value, which is what you would receive by selling it. If your home is insured for too little, your policy might not pay out enough for the full cost of repairing or rebuilding if it is damaged or destroyed.

Issues to Consider

There are exclusions and restrictions in all home insurance policies. Your insurance policy does not cover these events or situations. While every policy contains standard exclusions, you should check with your provider before you sign up because specific exclusions and restrictions vary across insurers.

The deductible is the amount that you will have to pay yourself for any claim before your insurer pays the balance. Any claim settlement will be reduced by your insurer by the amount of the excess that your policy states. If a loss is less than the excess, you cannot claim for it.

The amount of the deductible can depend on the insurer and you can often choose this based on your comfort level for maintaining your premiums and for actually paying it out. By agreeing to a higher deductible, your premium is usually discounted.

When they renew your policy each year, many insurance companies automatically increase the amount of coverage. This is called indexation. It helps you to avoid being under-insured as it increases the amount of your cover in line with inflation. Make sure you are not insured for too much or too little though, by regularly checking the amount of coverage you have. In general, people tend to be over-insured for buildings insurance and under-insured for contents insurance.

Several factors affect the amount you pay for your home insurance, including whether or not you insure your contents and the amount for which you insure your home. The greater the insured value of your buildings and contents, the higher your premium will be.

The location of your home also impacts your premiums. In areas where there is a high rate of burglary or in areas prone to flooding, insurers may charge more. Rural home owners usually pay less than city home owners because urban areas have more burglary claims. However, if you have security features, you may get a discount.




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