WHAT YOUR HOME INSURANCE POLICY MUST COVER

Owning a home is everybody’s dream. We all wish to own a home in which we may happily live with our family.

Lot of time and attention is devoted to it even after owning / constructing it, with a constant desire to make it cozier and more comfortable. It will therefore only be preposterous to assume that a home-owner would expose it to any kind of risk or hazard. On the contrary, it will be his endeavour to protect his home as a prized possession. This necessitates home insurance which may offer relief in case of any mishap, by making good on the losses incurred.

A number of housing insurance companies offer home insurance at a very competitive rate. You may have to shop around for an insurer that suits your requirements.

You may just have your home insured or go for the insurance coverage of the articles therein too. The insurance companies offer various types of policies that cover the losses to the structure and articles in your home due to any natural or man made calamities.

Generally covered calamities are:

Fire
Malicious damage
Explosion
Earthquake
Lightning
Storm, cyclone, tempest, tornado,
Hurricane & flood
Leakage from automatic Sprinkler installations or gas leakage or any blast
Bursting and/or overflowing of water tanks, apparatus and pipes
Burglary & theft

While you may be purchasing full protection in the form of a risk cover, bear in mind the following key points which will also give you peace of mind.

1. Be fully aware of the coverage you are getting under the plan, and not be surprised later to find out that the cover has exclusions you had not anticipated. The cover ought to feature material possessions, structure of your dwellings, and your indebtedness to others. Should a disaster strike, you need to be in a position to rebuild your home and replace everything in it.

2. Be aware of the claims process. Two policies could promise the same amount of coverage, but they can be vastly different when it comes to paying off in case of a loss. You have to make sure that you choose the policy in which you receive the entire claim upfront, and not just a fraction. Also the insurance companies should pay for all the things you have lost not just those you replace.

3. You should go for replacement value insurance. Make sure that insurance companies have covered both your home and its contents under replacement-value insurance.

4. Take inventory. When you file a claim with a home insurance company of you choice, it involves following steps :

Firstly, proving that you owned certain items and secondly verifying their worth. For this you can go through your homes with a video camera, walking through each room, and doing a quick sweep, so that you get everything you own on tape. Another way is that you make a list and shoot a few rolls of film.

Keep the video or photos in safe custody, preferably not at home where it might be destroyed when any mishap will happen.

It is important that inflation is taken into account while determining the quantum of your insurance cover and replace the cost of cover from what you paid a couple of years back.

If you are residing in area that is prone to catastrophes like flood and earthquake, ideally your cover should include the same.