When most people think about home insurance, they immediately think of insuring their home and contents from fire or water damage. The keener insurance minded people might also think of their liability insurance, but the truth is, your home insurance coverage most likely covers a lot more things than you were aware of.
With that in mind, we have put together a list of surprising coverage or coverage options that might already be in your home insurance policy or could be easily added as an endorsement by talking to your insurance broker.
1 – Your Parents Belongings When Living in Nursing Home
Surprisingly enough, most insurance companies have coverage that will automatically extend to cover your parents’ contents when they are living in a long-term care facility (nursing home). As always, contact your broker to find out if this coverage is an option on your policy.
2 – Simple Identity Theft Coverage
Most insurance companies have built in identity theft coverage in their home insurance policies. Truthfully, the built-in coverage is not going to pay for any monetary losses as a result of someone stealing your identity, but there are funds there to help you restore your identification, legal fees, lost wages, and other expenses you incurred as a result of the identity theft.
3 – Liability Coverage for Your Children
When people think about the liability coverage on their home insurance, they don’t realize that the liability coverage can automatically extend to their children that are living in their home (contact your insurance broker for details).
This can be important as the world moves towards a society where lawsuits are more prominent.
4 – Outdoor Trees, Shrubs, and Plants.
It’s surprising to know that your home insurance could cover your trees, shrubs, and plants from insured losses. Some insurance companies will even offer coverage for things like professional garden design fees or landscaping rocks and ponds.
5 – Coverage for Your Contents Not at Home
The majority of home insurance policies will have coverage for your contents when they are temporarily away from your property. If a thief steals your belongings while you are on vacation or steals your golf bag on the course, you might be able to put in a claim on your home insurance policy.
6 – Coverage for Sheds and Detached Buildings
Home insurance policies have coverage for detached private structures. Detached private structures can be your garden shed, detached garage, man/woman caves, etc. Check your policy today to see if your detached private structure limit is enough to cover your detached buildings on your property.
7 – Additional Living Expenses
When you have an insured loss on your property and you need to stay at a hotel or rent a temporary home, your insurance has built in coverage for that. The additional living expenses will also help you recoup any extra expenses you may incur as a direct result of not being able to live in your home while it is being repaired.
8 – Appliances and Home Equipment
Some insurance companies are now offering an endorsement that you can put on your home insurance policy that will cover the breakdown of your home appliances and equipment. Learn more about this endorsement in our article titled Is There Insurance for My Appliances & Home Equipment.
There are separate insurance companies pushing municipalities to send out their brochures in order to get you to insure the service lines between your home and the municipality property. What those brochures don’t tell you is that you can most likely get this coverage from your insurance company significantly cheaper through an endorsement on your home insurance policy.
Learn more in our article Water Lines, Sewer Lines, and Service Line Warranties Canada….
10 – Voluntary Medical Payments and Voluntary Property Damage Payments
The majority of home insurance policies have built in coverage for voluntary medical and property damage payments. Most people are unaware of what these coverages are or how it would affect them.
Voluntary medical payments coverage will respond to reasonable medical expenses when you unintentionally injure another person, or they were injured on your property. For example, coverage to pay for their ambulance trip to the hospital.
Voluntary property damage payments coverage will respond to unintentional direct loss or damage you cause to somebody’s property. For example, if your tree fell on your neighbours house and you wanted to help them pay for their deductible as you felt it was the neighbourly thing to do.
You do not have to be legally liable to use these coverages and there is usually no deductible to use them. The limits are usually fairly low amounts.
Very Important Closing Note
It’s very important to mention again that every policy is different, so you need to be sure you speak with your insurance broker for the specific details and coverages of your specific insurance policy.