Three Situations That Your Home Insurance Can Cover

Unless you have thoroughly read your home insurance's declaration pages, you may not be aware of everything that your policy can cover. It's a problem that can leave you paying for an expense out of your own pocket instead of making a claim, simply because you didn't know that you could. Here are three situations that home insurance can cover.

Certain Natural Disasters

In parts of the country that are prone to having earthquakes, it's common to need to purchase additional coverage that covers this natural disaster. If you did not purchase the coverage, you will be out of luck if the natural disaster causes damage to your home.  The same applies for homes that are in a flood zone with needing flood insurance.

You may be surprised about the possibility of your home being covered by volcano damage though, with things such as dust, ash, lava flow, particle matter, and the removal of these things from inside or outside your home. If your house suffers from this type of damage, double-check your policy. It's possible that you do not need additional coverage to pay for the repair costs.

Power Outages

Depending on how a power outage occurred, you may or may not have coverage for the items in your home that were damaged. For example, if your home was struck by lightning, your will be able to have all damage repaired because of that lightning strike. This includes damage to the home's structure, electronics that were affected due to a power surge, and even food that went bad because you lost power to a refrigerator or freezer. Since you are already paying a deductible for the structural damage, it makes sense to include everything that was affected as a direct result of the lightning strike.

If the power failure occurred due to a problem not affecting your home directly, such as a transformer being hit by lighting, chances are that a standard homeowners insurance policy will not cover the damage. You may also have limits that can affect how much of your lost food will be covered, or a deductible that is simply much higher than the damages you are wishing to claim.

Injuries

Your homeowner's police may also come with basic coverage for medical and liability protection. While these policies do not cover illnesses caused by germs, such as the chicken pox, it will cover incidents such as slip and falls. It will give you some much needed protection in case someone attempts to sue you for an injury that happens on your property.

For more information on your homeowner's insurance policy, speak to a local agent (or click here for more info about policy coverage).