Understanding Insurance Policies

Posted on: 25 November 2019

Home insurance is a wonderful product that protects your home against a lot of awful situations. Unfortunately, even the best of insurance products does not cover certain and unusual situations. Here are some examples of insurance riders you can purchase in addition to the home insurance policy if you should want these riders, or know that you will definitely need them:

Flood Rider

Some areas are known "flood plains." These areas commonly flood, and are recognized as insurance problem areas. As such, buying a property in a flood plain typically means that you will be required to purchase a flood rider because most regular home insurance policies do not cover the extent of damage that flooding of this magnitude causes. If you live in an area not recognized as a flood plain, but the area has experienced uncommonly high flood waters in the last two decades, you may want to purchase the flood rider anyway as a "just in case" protection plan. 

Hurricane Rider

Believe it or not, not all insurance companies will cover hurricane damage either. If your new home is in the gulf, along the lower East Coast, or anywhere in the panhandle of Florida, you may want to check your homeowner's insurance to see if it covers hurricanes. If it does not, now might be a really good time to buy the hurricane rider and prepare for next year's hurricane season sooner than later. 

Personal Property Value in Excess of $200,000 Rider

Not too many people have particularly valuable items, which is probably why you may not have heard about this rider. If you buy a yacht in the next year, though, you may want to get this rider to protect the yacht. Same goes for rare valuables, gems by the dozens, art, etc.. Anything that could possibly be stolen and is of really high value should be insured, but it will not be covered by your typical homeowner's plan. Everything has to Ergo, this particular rider becomes a necessity when you buy treasured objects. 

Riders Extending to Cover Property Stored Offsite

Not all home insurance companies cover your stuff stored elsewhere either. Read the fine print in your insurance contract. Some companies extend the coverage to losses as a result of your storage units of stuff burning down, blowing away, or being stolen as part of your home, even though you do not own the storage units or the property on which the storage units are built. If your insurance does not cover these offsite storage facilities with your stuff stashed inside, get coverage through this type of rider to protect what is still important to you. 

For more information, check out sites like thesanfordgroup.net.