Items not covered under your Homeowners insurance
When it comes to recovering from a burglary, it’s pretty simple to realize that this can be difficult both emotionally and also financially. Probably the last thing you’d want to hear is that after all you’ve been through, your homeowners insurance doesn’t cover all the losses you’ve suffered. Typically, high valued items, including collectibles, fine art and jewelry aren’t covered by this type of insurance.
Because of that, it’s recommended that you get the right type of coverage before it’s too late. In order to help you out with that, we’ve come up with a list of the 5 most common items that are certainly not covered by a standard homeowners insurance policy. Make sure to use this guide in order to learn more about what and how you’re covered and the things you can do to augment your coverage if required.
1. Business Equipment and Structures
If you’re running a business from home, then you should know that valuable assets such as business equipment and proprietary client lists and information aren’t covered by most policies. Also, if you run the business in a separate structure on your property, there’s a good chance it won’t be a part of your main homeowners insurance.
If you want to have the peace of mind that your home business is fully protected, it’s recommended that you consider checking into a rider to your current policy or extra business insurance that’s going to provide coverage for any business losses occurring on your property. Based on the type of business you’re running, there are many options you can consider in order to get reimbursed for potential losses due to various types of catastrophes, including theft.
2. Valuables and Collectibles
There are many situations where a typical homeowners insurance policy lacks proper coverage, especially when it comes to highly valuable items, including family silver, firearms, furs, jewelry and also fine art. A typical homeowners insurance policy generally covers up to one thousand dollars which is in most cases insufficient for compensating the real or sentimental value of your precious items.
There are many things you can do in order to protect your valuables and the good news is that the majority of insurance companies make it easy for consumers to add Valuable Personal Property insurance. If you’d like to explore other options though, you may want to consider acquiring a safe, moving coins, gold or diamond collections to a safety deposit box at the bank of your choice.
3. Repairs
The majority of homeowners insurance policies make allowance for repairs, but there are plenty of cases where they actually limit your options in regards to choosing the best bid for your project. Because of that, it’s important that you check your policy and see if it requires you to hire specific contractors for the job or if it has any other limitations. Depending on what’s written in the fine print, you may not be given a choice to hire the right contractor for the job or you may miss out on getting the job done professionally and fast. To have the peace of mind your claim is processed as soon as possible, be sure to keep track of all expenses. If you make it easy for the insurer to assess the pay out, you’ll certainly get your check sooner than you think.
4. Identity Theft
Identifying the physical items you’d like to protect and insure is very simple, but nowadays burglars can steal more than physical items. If your home has been broken into, then you can easily become a victim of identity theft. Since identity theft is very common right now, most insurance companies will include it in personal liability coverage, yet this is not generally something you’d get with a standard homeowners insurance policy. Therefore, if you are worried about the fallout from ID theft, it’s recommended that you add ID theft protection to your current policy. Some losses that will be covered include lost wages, lawyer fees and phone bills.
5. Cash
If you keep a lot of cash at home, then you should know that most policies only offer limited coverage on lost money. In general, you’ll only recover about two hundred dollars. That’s because cash falls into the same category as art, coins and similar goods, so you need to have a special policy if you want to be reimbursed by the insurance company.
Of course, the best way to make sure you won’t become a victim of burglary and any type of losses that may result from this is to not have your home broken into in the first place. The truth is that no security plan is foolproof, so that is why it’s a good idea to install a surveillance system as soon as possible.
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