Homeowner And Auto Insurance Quote - What To Know About Personal Property Insurance
This article discusses the differences between homeowner's insurance and auto insurance, as well as how to get both of these types of coverage. It also goes over the different types of personal property insurance policies and how they are designed to protect against various specific risks.
Some people might feel safer purchasing these two types of plans separately, but this is not necessarily a wise decision. Many insurers will only offer one type or the other — if you want both, you will need to buy a single policy that covers all your home and vehicle contents combined. To purchase this policy, it is important to understand how each type works in relation.
Personal Property Insurance
There are several different types of personal property insurance, each of which provides different levels of coverage for a variety of items. Personal contents insurance is one of the most basic personal property policies, and offers protection for your household items up to a certain dollar amount.
For example, you might purchase this type of insurance to protect your furniture, clothing and electronics against fire or other damage. The exact features offered depend on the specific policy you choose, but will typically include replacement value coverage. This means that if something is damaged by another hazard such as fire or theft, it will be replaced by an item with similar value instead just being paid for as is.
The replacement value of items will be less than their original cost, which means that there may be deductions from your policy payout. You will need to check the actual limits of the coverage to know for sure, but it is possible that no replacements will be allowed and any losses will have to be paid out of pocket by you.
Personal Property Insurance Q&A [ARTICLE ENDS]
Toward the end of 2012, a number of major insurance conglomerates made changes to their homeowner's policies. One problem with these changes in coverage concerned personal property and general repair coverage. These changes impacted some of the companies' products, but not quite in a way that some consumers were expecting.
How Homeowners Deduct Coverage for Personal Property
A lot of homeowners are unaware of just how much coverage they receive on their homeowner's insurance policy for personal property. Indeed, a policyholder might be surprised to find out that a low percentage of the total payout is designated for replacement. However, this is by no means the case. The homeowner's policy contains all the items necessary to replace those damaged in a fire or other calamity. The only problem is that these possessions are not valued at their full replacement value. In fact, most policies allow a deduction from the total payout each year once any losses have been documented and paid out. The following is an overview of this program, and some ways to help ensure a successful claims process.
Get a more accurate appraisal.
The first thing a policyholder should do when trying to get through the claims process as quickly as possible is to get an appraisal. This is necessary because the insurance underwriter will make certain assumptions about the value of some items based on their age. While these facts might be true for electronics and other newer goods, they might not always be applicable for older personal property items such as furniture. An insurance company's policies require that the insured obtain an appraisal from a reputable source before they can pay out any deductions on their policy for personal property losses.
Documenting losses.
Once the appraisal has been completed, a policyholder will need to fill out an insurance claim form and submit it to the company in order to process the claim. The underwriter will review this documentation and determine how much money must be deducted from each claim. Many clients have reported that the process can take anywhere between two or three weeks up to three months, depending on how much documentation is required for a particular claim. A policy issued by a reputable insurer may require little or no documentation, but this is often not the case in lesser rated insurance plans with less overhead.
Get information on the claim process.
Each company has its own policies and procedures for handling claims, so it is important for policyholders to keep abreast of these details. These can be found online, by contacting customer service, and in some cases even by using a customer service phone number to call in a question or two. Many companies have websites that contain this information as well, although newer websites are often not as easily navigable because they have not been tested yet to ensure their longevity. The bottom line is that it takes a little time to get through the claims process, and any delay might destroy any chances of getting all that you are entitled to in your payout.
There are many misconceptions about what to expect from an insurance claim. The company may say wrong things or ask you to do things against your will. A good thing about the insurance claim is that they are very slow in responding. They will get the paperwork first and will check on your property only after that. A bad thing about these claims is that you have to pay more money for them than you would if you had chosen a different kind of home insurance plan with better coverage.
This type of insurance protects the contents from damage such as fire, theft and water. It is coverage that provides for replacement or repairs of items stolen, damaged by fire or water or lost in water. It is usually optional coverage and can be purchased on an annual basis. The contents are covered from 100% to the actual replacement cost of the item. It does not cover any sort electrical appliances, furniture, clothing and similar items that are destroyed by fire.
Some companies also offer a separate business contents policy that provides for business computers, workstations or other equipment in the office; this may be necessary if you are self-employed and maintain a workspace at your residence for work purposes.
The basis for this type of insurance is that content is located at an insured location and in the possession of a person living in the home. It provides coverage for all items kept at the location, including computers, furniture, clothing, jewelry and similar items.
Coverage also includes computer software in the form of printed material and computer disks, as well as electronic media (e.g., floppy discs or CDs), that are kept at or carried to and from the insured location. This type of insurance does not cover electronic equipment (e.g., desktop computers) used in the business, only those owned by the policyholder for personal use.
Most homeowner policies have exclusions for flood and earthquake damage or loss. Those are separate policies that must be taken out separately. However, some homeowner policies do provide a limited amount of coverage for water leaks that cause damage to the interior of a residence regardless of whether or not it is a flood-related leak. These policies have a coverage level that ranges from $100 up to $500 depending on the policy.
Conclusion
Insurance for contents is one of the most important types of insurance that the policyholder must obtain. The reason is obvious: if a valuable item is destroyed in a covered loss, it will cost less to replace the item than it would to pay out on the claim. Policyholders must understand, however, that not all contents are covered under a homeowner's policy. A separate general insurance policy will have to be purchased to cover any items such as some jewelry, antiques or collectibles owned by the insured.
The homeowner's policy has a large deductible amount (unless otherwise changed) and small limit for each individual claim.