Understand What Your Home Insurance Policy Can Cover
An important consideration when buying a home or reviewing your homeowners insurance policy is whether your insurance covers natural disasters, such as hurricanes or earthquakes. While standard home insurance policies may cover a wide variety of situations, it doesn’t cover everything. Be aware of what your home insurance does and does not cover.
Natural Disasters
Generally, natural disasters are not covered by a basic home insurance policy if you live in a high-risk area, such as a flood plain or along an active fault. In most cases, homeowners will need to purchase additional coverage to protect them against a specific type of natural disaster.
If you live in a high-risk area for wildfires, you may pay more for your general policy to cover the increased risk. However, your home insurance would work to protect your property and belongings from wildfire so that you have peace of mind that protection is in place.
Earthquakes are fairly common in California, and even slight tremors can cause significant damage for homeowners. Most standard home insurance policies do not cover earthquake damage, meaning that you would be on the hook for repairs and replacements if an earthquake destroyed your property. An earthquake insurance policy must be obtained if you want protection form these unpredictable events.
Even though California doesn’t get much rain, floods still occur. Flooding can come from rivers, coastal surges, sinkholes, and even plumbing failures. For the most part, all homeowner policies specifically exclude flood-related damage, except for cases related to flooding from damaged plumbing infrastructure, such as broken pipes. A separate flood insurance policy can be purchased for homes that can be at risk of flooding.
Take a moment to review your policy terms or call your insurer for further clarification. The team at Hoffman Brown Company are ready and waiting to help you find reliable and responsible insurance for your property. Contact us today to get started!
